Lie To Me
by Middlen
Summary: After her mother dies from cancer Usagi Tuskino, otherwise known as Ren to those outside the family, has been living with her father and his family for as long as she can remember. Being the sole heir to her father's vast "business" Usagi grows up being groomed so that she might be able to take over one day. When a girl from Usagi's past comes strolling in will that mean the end?
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1**

A figure lies on a bed with the blankets pulled up over their head and yet their legs are out of the blankets, spread out in different directions while their arms match the awkward placed legs. A gentle snore can be heard from under the blankets.

The room is cast in darkness, with no possible light being able to enter the dark hole of the room until a door opens and in walks a tall figure which grabs the edge of the bed before lifting up in order to throw the sleeping form out bed. The figure in the bed springs out of the bed and lands in a crouch before the tall figure.

The crouching figure reaches behind them and flicks on the lamp beside the bed before letting out a groan when they see who the other person is.

"Do you really have to wake me up that way?" The crouching person asks looking over their shoulder towards a clock that rests on the night stand next to the lamp. "It's not even five am yet. I haven't needed training in weeks. Why all of a sudden are you waking me up this way?"

The tall figure chuckles before moving over to the now upright person and ruffles short blonde hair. "I was just making sure that you can expect the unexpected. That was very good, by the way. Now get dressed and come on down to the gym. I want to work you out for a bit before you start the first day of your fourth term," the taller man answers cheerfully while walking out of the room, but then stops and turns around to face the other person. "Oh, Usa, by the way, your Aunt's Haruka and Hotaru are here. They'll be training with you."

Grumbling to herself, Usa begins to rush around the room to get dressed and down stairs to the gym so that no one would come to yell at her for being late for her early, rude training session. Rushing out of the room, she skids around the corner of the hallway to the grand stair case, taking two steps at a time; she bounds down the stairs cladded in only loose, black basketball shorts and a gray tank top. He short blonde hair sticking up in odd directions due to her haste.

She enters the gym and sees her two Aunts sitting in the lotus position over by the back wall. A short, dark haired youth waves at her then motions her over to where they are sitting. A slight crosses her face; she jogs over to them and leans against the wall as they continue their stretching.

"Well good morning, Usa. About time you get down here. So are you ready to go back to school?" The short haired girl beside her asks with a smile on her face.

"Yeah, I'm about ready as ever," she answers the shorter girl as she stretches her arms above her head an audible crack from her back can be heard by the other two sitting on the floor.

"Yeah, I'll bet you are. All those girls swooning over you, the hero worship when you beat someone in your kendo tournaments," the woman on her other side states with a sly smirk on her face as she looks up at the youth.

Usa lets out a scoff. "Oh, are you talking about the girls who constantly enjoy looking like utter fools, the boys chasing after me because they think I'm taking away their girlfriends and the constant fights? Yeah, I'm so looking forward to that, Ruka!" Usa exclaims; letting out a puff of air that shifts her bangs out of her eyes.

"Oh, it can't be that bad," Ruka states while laughing and wiggling her eyebrows at the constipated looking Usagi.

"Just because you like pretending to be a boy, Ruka, doesn't mean everyone else does!" Usa states before reaching over to slap her aunt gently upside the head.

Haruka lets out a sigh while reaching across Hotaru to ruffle her niece's hair. "I'm just poking fun, Usa. Don't get so bent out of shape. Leave that for the information I have for you," Ruka states with a chuckle.

"What information is that?" Usa asks with a raised eyebrow at her older Aunt.

"There's a family reunion this weekend. Dad has arranged it and of course there's no talking him out of it, even with the amount of pleading that I've done. So that means everyone will be there," Ruka answers with a scowl on her face as she crosses her arms across her t-shirt covered chest with a huff.

"That's great, just great. That means we have to put up with those money grubbing assholes, in the guise of our relatives. Well isn't that just perfect?" Usagi asks with a sarcastic tone and a scowl that matches Haruka's.

Usagi blinks, turning her head to look at Hotaru when she feels the dark haired girl nudge her in the side.

"It's not really a family reunion, Usagi. It's more of a way for Haruka to meet her fiancé and to introduce the soon to be wedded couple to the family. So we get to meet our future in law," Hotaru states with a chuckle but the chuckle turns into a grimace when she hears growling coming from off to her side. "Oh, I'm sorry, Haruka. I didn't mean for it to sound how it did."

Usa stares at Hotaru wondering if the dark haired girl had a death wish, running her fingers through her hair she sighs. "Let me guess, Grandfather, made the arranged marriage, didn't he?" She questions; placing her arms on her knees, cradling her head as she stares at her scowling Aunt.

Ruka lets out a sigh and nods her head. "Yeah, dad says that it's only fitting for me to be married that way since all my brothers were married the same way, well with the exception of your dad, Usagi. Hotaru is the last one in line for these stupid arrangements'," she states; looking over towards Hotaru and a small smile graces her lips. "I'm sorry, kid, looks like this is what you both have to look forward too."

Usa and Hotaru let out a groan at the same time as they roll their eyes at the thought of the older man setting up an arranged marriage for Hotaru.

The three girls have always been very close even though there were some years separating them in age between the two younger ones and Haruka. Despite that the girls have a strong bond, but only because they have been forced by the older males in their lives to masquerade as the opposite sex throughout their entire lives. Well on the contrary, Usagi and Hotaru were being forced into it while Haruka thoroughly enjoyed living the life of a male.

They stop talking when Usa's father comes into the gym and they begin their early morning workout session which consists of several different martial arts, kendo and some boxing thrown into the mix. The pace is grueling to any outsider looking in, but Usagi's father looks on with pride at his daughter and two younger sisters as they put their all into his training regimen. After a couple of hours of working out, Usa's father announces that they are finished for today and congratulates them all on how well they have progressed over the years before letting them go off to take showers before it's time for them to go for the day.

After her shower, Usa dresses in her school uniform consisting of black slacks, a white shirt under a red blazer that has her schools crest on the left side of the jacket, and a red, green checkered tie around her neck. She looks at herself in the mirror; she makes faces at her reflection then lets out a sigh. Tousling her hair to give it a windswept look, she grabs her messenger bag and makes her way down to the kitchen.

She walks into the kitchen over towards the counter to select an apple for herself. She eats is slowly, leaning back against the counter listening to the early morning routine of Haruka and Luna arguing about some sort of fact in history. She chuckles at Haruka's down trodden scowl while Luna hides a smirk behind her hand. Shaking her head at the antics of the two older women, she tosses the apple core away; she bids the two women a good day and walks out of the house with Hotaru next to her. She looks over towards Hotaru for a moment as she lets out a puff of air which causes the other girl to turn her head towards her with a raised eyebrow.

"Is there something on your mind, Usa?" Hotaru questions the girl who grumbles slightly under her breath. "What was that?"

"I said, yeah, actually there is. Why do we keep doing this, Hotaru? I mean, my father is a god damn loon, really he is. He moved in with Grandfather because he said that it would help him out with me, but in all reality it was so I could get formal training with you and Haruka in order to become a "boy" and for what?" Usa asks with a huff before looking back over at Hotaru who lets out a sigh. "To tell you the truth, Hotaru, I never wanted to run his business. I have no interest in it at all and I can't get that through his damn thick skull."

"Look, Usa, it's not like we have any choice in the matter. I mean at least you didn't have to have it beat into your head from birth. There was a period when you got to be yourself. Haruka and I never got that privilege. Maybe that's why it's harder for you then it is for us, but I can understand where you are coming from. Though what can we really do about it? Nothing is the truth of it all. We've ran away and got a beating for our troubles. So we just have to put up with it, because there's no getting out of it I'm afraid," Hotaru states with a sigh and a sad smile on her face.

Usa nods her head and flicks her bangs out of her eyes which cause's a group of girls, who are currently walking on the other side of the street, to swoon at the sight of gorgeous boys standing on the other side of the street.

"Look, its Taru and Ren."

"Oh, I love looking at Ren. His blonde hair brings out his blue eyes so well. He's so handsome!"

"I like Taru better. He's got such dark, mysterious eyes. He's so gorgeous!"

"I really hope that Ren will answer my letter!"

"No, way will he answer yours first, idiot, because he'll answer mine first!"

"They make their uniforms look so good! They are so sexy!"

Usa sighs when she hears the girls non to quiet comments and looks over at the giggling girls on the other side of the street. She looks over towards Taru; rolling her eyes she lets out a chuckle which in turn makes Taru smile back at her.

"Oh, Taru, you're so cute. Won't you marry me?" Usa mocks as they continue on their way down the street.

"Oh, Ren-kun, your eyes are so deep like the sea. I could just lose myself within them," Taru states her voice going an octave higher than usual which leaves them laughing while they walk through the gates of their school.

The two girls walked towards their first home room chatting about what they thought they're last year of high school would be like, how they would avoid the ever growing angry boy mob, which causes Usagi to mumble something about pitch forks and torches before switching the subject towards how they could get out of going to their family reunion that was coming that weekend.

Just before walking into their classroom they hear someone call out to Usa. They both turn around at the same time only to see a gaggle of boys standing not too far from the entrance to the classroom. One of the boys points at Usa, who rolls her eyes thinking that her hope for them to give it up for once was about to be dashed. She hands her messenger bag to Hotaru, telling her she would see her sometime later before dashing down the hallway while the gaggle of boys stampede after her. They yell at the top of their lungs at the poor girl. Hotaru grows wide eyed as the rush past her thinking that she just saw a pitchfork in the mist of the boys.

Hotaru lets out an exasperated sigh once the cloud of dust has cleared and shakes her head. "This is going to be another long year," she muses to herself; turning on her heel she walks into the class room deep in thought about how to come up with once again, another excuse to explain her niece's absence on the first day of school.

Sometime later finds Usa trying to sneak around the campus in the hopes of not being seen by the boys that she had just lost a short time before. She pokes her head around a building and lets out a sigh of relief when seeing that there's no one standing around in the empty court yard. She steps around the building and walks cautiously through the silent court yard.

She isn't afraid to fight the mob of boys; it's just that she was sick of their daily attempts to beat the ever living crap out of her like she was some sort of piñata. Plus, having to explain to her father that the fights were never her fault, but in self-defense was a pain considering that she was never the one that had bruises on her afterwards. How could she or Hotaru compete against the multitude of parents that would always call her father when their sons were all black and blue for their fights? She couldn't was the answer and because of that her father would lecture her just before grounding her for weeks at a time. That was not fun, so it was just easier to avoid them than to go through the trouble of the inevitable.

Usagi pokes her head around another corner before letting out a sigh once again when she doesn't see anyone. She turns back to look behind her then once more cautiously heads over to the building on the other side of the schools soccer field. Thrusting her hands into her pockets she walks on trying to act nonchalantly in case she happens upon a teacher while she makes her way towards a door that she knows from countless times of being chased would still be open because gym had just ended.

She eases slowly into the gym and slowly closes the door behind her so as to not make a sound that would surely echo through the silent gym. Her head shoots up when she hears male voices yelling from somewhere close by. With her heart beating rapidly against her ribs, she shoots out from the entry way of the gym. Twisting her head back and forth she manically looks for a place to hide only to let out a sigh when she sees the open entrance to the locker rooms not too far off to her right. She sprints towards it hoping that the boys wouldn't spot her while making a mad dash towards the entrance.

In her haste, the blonde doesn't notice the blue sign on the side of the entrance as she skids around the corner which indicates that she had just entered the girl's side of the locker rooms. She slams the door shut and rests her forehead against the wood grain with her eyes closed. Letting out a sigh of relief she opens her eyes when she hears a soft, not really audible gasp from somewhere in the room.

Ever so slowly she turns her head and lets out a sharp gasp of her own, eyes growing wide when she sees that her hiding place is occupied by a girl that's half dressed, standing in the middle of the locker room with her mouth wide open in a silent scream, her wide amethyst eyes bugging out in anger.

Opening and closing her mouth a couple times like a fish out of water, she tries to apologize to the girl standing in front of her, but nothing comes out. She just watches as the half-naked girl moves her head back and forth looking for something.

"Get out you, pervert," the girl finally screams lifting up a tennis shoe that she had grabbed from somewhere.

Too stunned to react properly the shoe connects with the center of Usagi's forehead. The force of the throw snaps the girls head back and she bangs it against the closed door behind her. She hardly has time to recover from the last shoe when another shoe is suddenly hurtling towards her head. She shakes her head to come out of her stupor and quickly ducks her head before she turns tail and makes a hasty treat out the way she came.

The door closes behind her with a bang and she leans against it before touching her forehead tenderly with two fingertips. She winces when a stinging sensation emanates from the spot where the shoe had struck. Trying to get the pain to go away she gently rubs the spot only to wince for her troubles. Heaving a sigh, she pushes away from the door to get away from the mad banshee back in the locker room. She slowly makes her way across the gym hoping that no more mishaps befall her as she makes her way to class.

After a bit of negotiating around the boys in the hallways, Usa makes it to her third period classroom and silently slips into the room before the bell can ring. Hotaru looks up from her sketchbook when she hears someone flop into the chair beside her and is shocked to see a red, weird shaped welt on her niece's forehead she winces slightly in sympathy for the girls' plight.

"What happened? Did they catch you?" Hotaru asks in concern for her niece.

"No, they didn't and no I don't want to explain why my forehead is red right at the moment," Usa answers swatting at her aunts hand that's touching her forehead.

Usagi yawns slightly behind a hand as she looks towards Hotaru for a moment. Rolling her eyes she puts her head down on her crossed arms and closes her eyes.

"Right, well, we can talk about it at lunch time, okay?" Hotaru asks only to receive a wave of a hand in response before the sensei comes into the room.

Hotaru lets out a sigh and shakes her head at the quietly snoring girl beside her. She turns her attention towards the sensei when he begins to call out names in attendance. She lowers her voice slightly to answer for her niece when her name is called and lets out a soft sigh when he doesn't stop.

Looking over towards her niece she wonders just how long the girl can take these sort of things before she's completely warn out and allows the boys to take whatever made up justice they have for her. The sound of Usagi's name being called from the front of the room pulls Hotaru out of her musings. She leans over and pokes her snoring niece in the ribs only to get a soft snort out of her. She leans back in her chair and lets out an exasperated sigh before leaning back over to start poking at the girl's side frantically.

Leaning back in her chair, Hotaru covers her eyes when he begins to walk over to Usagi's desk and slams his hands on either side of the snoring girl. Usagi jerks her head up almost clipping the sensei's chin with her head. Usagi begins to look around the room with a wide eyed stare and a comical look of bewilderment on her face.

"What? What is it? Yes, No, True, False. It equals four hundred and thirty five. George Bush. Lee Harvey Oswald. Umm is it Santa?" Usa rambles on while looking around the room for the source that had interrupted her peaceful nap.

"Thank you for coming back to us, Tsukino. That'll be detention after school with me for an hour," Mr. Davis states; walking away from Usa as she stares at her desk with a dejected look on her face.

Usagi looks over towards a sputtering Hotaru. "Why didn't you tell me he was coming?" Usa hisses quietly so that the dragon won't hear her.

"I was poking you, but you didn't wake up!" Hotaru exclaims in a whisper after taking a moment to regain her composure. "Now, look forward before we both get in trouble"

Usa puts her head in her hands, letting a soft groan slip from her lips. 'This is going to be a long year.' She shakes her head then turns her attention towards the teacher that she wouldn't incur his wrath a second time in less than ten minutes

Usa lets out a sigh as she lounges under a tree that she and her aunt have been sitting under since their first year of high school. Lying down with her arms under head she glares at the clouds over head that can be seen through the leaves of the tree. She lets out another sigh, dropping an arm across her eyes trying not to think of that morning or the detention she had to attend to after school. The thoughts seem to crawl through her mind uncaring of how hard she was trying not to think about any of it.

'Man, why do I have it so bad with those guys? I get chased around while my aunt is friends with just about everyone. What have I done to deserve all of this abuse? I don't remember doing anything to them to begin with and Hotaru is just as popular with the girls as I am.'

She doesn't ponder these thoughts for long as a shadow falls over her. She takes her arm away from her eyes and looks up, but the sun around the person makes it hard to see their face. What she does know is that it's not her aunt that's currently in front of her due to the height difference and they are in a girl's uniform as well.

She gets to her feet and shades her eyes only for her mouth to drop open when she sees a familiar looking girl standing in front of her.

"Um, Hi, Ren?" the girl questions with a teasing smile on her face and a slight wave a hand in front of the blondes girls face.

"Wow, Makoto, is that you? By god! It's been so long since I've last seen you!" Usa exclaims running towards the taller girl and picks her up to swing her around which makes the girls in the court yard swoon and some jealous of the attention the normally stoic Usa was giving towards this new girl.

"What are you doing here? How did you know it was me?" Usagi questions once she puts Makoto down on the ground.

"It's good to see you too, Usa and I'm here because dad's job transferred him here with a promotion. So, we moved over the weekend. He has me enrolled before we moved. I knew it was you, because well come on. Even with shorter hair and looking older, you still look the same from when we were younger. So I guess all I can say now is surprise!" Makoto states while throwing her arms out wide before turning around in a circle laughing with her best friend.

"Wow, I can't believe you are here. The last time I saw you was right before I left with my father for here," Usa states while sitting down in the grass with her childhood friend.

"Yeah, I know. How's that working out for you?" Makoto questions before dropping her voice down an octave after looking around. "I see your father made you do what you said he was going to do before you stopped writing."

"Yeah, he did. I had to stop writing because he didn't want anyone to know after the decision was made. My grandfather had a hand in that," Usa whispers before waving towards Hotaru who she sees out of the corner of her eye.

Hotaru waves back making her way over towards the duo on the grass, in front of the tree. She sits down and smiles at the new person next to Usa. "Ren, you've made a new friend I see. Good for you," she states with a laugh which earns her a soft smack on the arm.

"Not a new friend, Taru, but an old one. I'd like to introduce my friend Kino Makoto. You remember me talking about her, right, Taru?" Usa asks which earns her a nod. "Anyway, Makoto this is my Aunt, Hotaru Tsukino. We both live with my Grandfather."

Hotaru and Makoto smile at one another in greeting. The girls fall into a conversation which consists mostly of school and Usagi's daily mob encounters. A couple of minutes into the conversation, Hotaru falls silent and leans back on her elbows to observe her nieces interaction with her old childhood friend.

She smiles to herself when she notices that Usagi's face and posture relaxes more the longer she talks with Makoto. The dark haired girl nods slightly to herself thinking that maybe this year wouldn't be nearly as bad as she was thinking it would be for her niece after all.

After a couple more minutes of talking, Makoto raises a hand and beckons to someone over Hotaru's shoulder for them to come over where the three girls are sitting. Usa and Hotaru raise an eyebrow at Makoto who only smiles at her friend and Hotaru.

"My dad worked with a couple of my friends dad's and their fathers were transferred at the same time mine was, so we're at the school together which is really great, but not surprising since their dads were on the same negotiation team as my father. When I heard that they were moving with me, it made me feel a lot better about going to this school, but it also made me psyched cause I'd like to introduce my new friends to one of my old friends," Makoto explains with a smile on her face.

Usa chuckles and nods her head as a shadow falls over the trio. Usagi looks up only to see the same girl that was in the locker room earlier that morning. Usa lets out a yelp and scoots away from the shoe throwing, banshee that's standing in front of her with her hands on her hips.

The dark haired girl looks down at the blonde haired boy from before and frowns at him then looks towards Makoto. "That's the boy I was telling you about. He's the one that ran into the locker room while I was changing. He's the pervert that was sneaking peeks at me!" The girl exclaims which brings over another girl with long blonde hair.

"What are you yelling about Rei?" The blonde haired girl questions while raising an eyebrow.

"That's the sicko that was looking at me with his mouth open while I was half nude. Came into the locker room, looking to get a peek at someone didn't you, you peeping tom?" Rei yells while pointing a finger at Usa who is now cowering behind Hotaru, which causes Makoto and Minako to let out a sigh of exasperation.

"Rei, will you just calm down! It was probably a mistake. I know it doesn't seem likely, but it does happen," the blonde states; crossing her arms over her chest looking over at the blonde haired boy with a smile on her face eyes twinkling with mischief.

"Well, maybe, but I still think he's a pervert, Minako," Rei states with a huff while crossing her own arms over her chest and glares daggers at the hapless boy.

Usa frowns when the girl calls her a pervert again and she comes out from around Hotaru seething.

"Yeah, well, if you weren't such a banshee and hadn't gone off the handle, maybe then I could've explained that I had just gone into the wrong room by mistake, but no, you had to go and throw your shoes at me instead of letting me explain!" Usa exclaims with her arms crossed over her chest, glaring back at the dark haired banshee.

"What's there to explain? You're a boy in a girl's bathroom! You had no place being in there. You can read can't you? Besides I'm sure that you've been going to this school longer than me, so why would you make a mistake like that? The only reason I can come up with is that you're a hentai!" Rei accuses, pointing a finger at Usa once again.

Usa jumps to her feet and points a finger at the girl. "I'll have you know that I was looking for a place to hide until some guys left. I didn't feel like getting into a fight today if you must know."

"Oh is that so, huh? What? Did you peek in on those boy's girlfriends too?" Rei asks in a scoff which causes a vein to pop out on Usa's forehead.

"I don't have to deal with this! Makoto, it was great seeing you, but I'll see you later. Just have Taru give you my cell phone number so that we can get in touch later. You'll know where I'll be at Taru, come get me this, banshee is gone," Usa huffs before stalking off away from the girls who watch her leave before turning back towards Rei in a mix of confusion and anger.

Though the only one confused is Hotaru while Minako and Makoto look at her in anger.

"Rei, you really need to think before you go off at the handle. It was a simple mistake, Ren isn't like that," Makoto states while crossing her arms over her chest and glares at her friend.

"Yeah, well, you didn't see him standing there with his mouth open. You would've thought the same thing," Rei offers in defense, sitting down in the grass next to her friend.

Makoto shakes her head and looks at Rei in surprise. "No, first I would've covered up then I would've asked him what he was doing in there and if the answer didn't satisfy me then I would've started to throw things at him."

Minako looks from where Ren was once standing then over towards Rei with a smirk on her face. "I would've asked for his phone number. He's really cute," She states while wiggling her eyebrows at the two girls sitting in front of her.

"You would," Rei mumbles rolling her eyes at her friend before chuckling along with Makoto.

"Oh, Sa, I forget to introduce you to my friends. The boy crazy, blonde, is my friend Minako Harris and the one with a shorter fuse then a fire cracker is Rei Winters. This is Taru Tsukino," Makoto states with a smile while the two girls give a small wave towards Hotaru.

Hotaru smiles back before running her fingers through her hair. "It was very nice meeting the three of you, but I think I better go and find Ren before he gets into trouble," she states before writing down her niece's cell phone number and hands it to Makoto. "Here's his phone number, Makoto. I'll see you later."

"Bye, Taru," the three girl's state to which Taru gives a brief wave, trotting off to find Ren.

Hotaru lets out a sigh while walking off towards where her niece's usual hiding spot. 'Okay, so maybe I was wrong. This year is going to be bad, but at least it can't get any worse than it already is.' She thinks while she brushes some branches aside to go down into the field behind the school only to see Usa and some boys fighting it out in the field below her.

She rolls her eyes then breaks out into a run I order to give her niece some help. 'God damn it! I should've just kept my big mouth shut!'

Rain falls gently to the ground and making soft noises against the window of Usagi's room while she stands beside her window, watching rain fall down to earth. Her platinum blonde hair illuminated by the occasional lighting strike which throws her room into an unearthly glow just before the thunder rumbles across the sky.

She lets out a sigh and moves away from the window and goes over to her desk where she sits down gingerly before starting in on her homework. She looks up from her work when she feels hands on her shoulder and turns her head to see Haruka standing behind her. She smiles while she leans her head back against Ruka's shoulder as the weariness of the day washes over her.

"Has it been that long of a day? It's only your first after all." Haruka comments; stroking her fingers through the younger girls blonde locks.

"Yeah, something like that," Usagi answers before opening her eyes and moves away from her Aunts comforting embrace to continue her homework.

"The boys still giving you problems aren't they?" Haruka asks before moving away from Usagi to sit on the girl's bed.

Usagi runs her fingers through her hair, but remains quiet while working on a problem for her math class, but nods her head instead and winces when her hand runs across a lump on her head from where a boy had whacked her with a large branch.

Haruka studies the girl in front of her with her head leaned slightly to the side before letting out a chuckle. "That's not the only thing that's bothering you, is it?"

Usagi looks up at her Aunt with a startled look on her face before letting out a grunt then goes back to her homework once again trying to figure out the math problem that has been plaguing her since she started her homework a couple of hours earlier.

"Well in any case. Hotaru and I are down in the parlor. Why don't you take some time off from your homework and come down stairs. Some of the relatives are coming through the house. It'd be nice to have you with us to fend them off," Haruka states with a glowing smile that she knows Usa won't be able to deny.

"I really shouldn't, Ruka, I've got homework and then dad wants me to do some exercises before I go to bed tonight. He said something about a challenge or something like that. I didn't really pay him that much attention during dinner," Usa states while trying not to look up at Haruka, but Haruka won't let her get out of it that easily.

"Oh, come on, Usa. It's just tea and some cards. It won't hurt for you to take some time away from your homework. Michi is here," Haruka states knowing that will get her to come with her.

Sure enough Usa's head picks up and looks over at Haruka with a look that's a cross of annoyance, humor and a good dose of disgust because she's easily distracted.

"Yeah, fine, alright. I'll come on downstairs with you to the parlor, but only a couple of games. I can't afford not to get my homework done; Ruka and you always distract me from it!"

"I only distract you when I know you aren't getting anything done anyway. So let's go," Haruka states with a smirk crossing, unseen, over her face.

Usagi lets out a sigh before putting her notebook into the text book to mark her page then gets up from the chair and follows Haruka out of the room to where Haruka had stopped. She looks up at her Aunt who smiles down at her affectionately then places her arm around the younger girl's shoulders before setting off downstairs for a couple games of cards and some good conversation.

Later on Usagi sits next to Michiru with her arms crossed while watching her Aunt deal out the cards to her and Michiru.

"I really think they are cheating," Usagi mumbles to herself, but Michiru hears the girl and smiles to herself.

Outwardly, Michiru looks very calm, but on the inside the woman is having a conversation with herself about the girls that sit around her, like she always does when she's in Haruka's families company.

'They are so young to have this responsibility put on their shoulders and there's nothing they can do about it. Outwardly, Usa is refine and dignified, but from talking to Ruka who talks to Hotaru, I know that she doesn't want to do any of this. She just wants to be herself and break free from the shackles of family responsibility.' She looks over at Ruka who's smiling, but she knows that there are dark thoughts swirling around in the older girls mind.

The older girl's eyes meet for a moment before looking at the younger girls in the room and they share an unspoken agreement before turning back to the game at hand. Shaking their heads they entertain the younger girls and make sure that they laugh a great deal before they have to leave again.

After a couple more hands of cards, Usa looks up only to see a dark form standing inside the doorway. She stands up and growls under her breath which makes Haruka, Hotaru and Michiru look up from their hands when the dark form walks into the room.

"Usa, you look well," a dark haired, youth dressed in cargo pants, black shoes and a blue long sleeved shirt and a black t-shirt over it, states with a condescending smile on their face.

"Mamoru," Usagi growls out and her eyes narrow as does Haruka's and Hotaru's.

Michiru draws in a deep breath at the way the rooms warmth and happiness had now dropped to a menacing coldness as soon as the young man had walked into the room and she wonders what this all about and who exactly this Mamoru person is.

"What are you doing here, Mamoru?" Haruka asks with her arms crossed over her chest before standing closer to Usagi with a menacing look on her face.

"Oh you know, father came to talk to Usa's father about some arrangements that were made when _She_ was born," he states his smirk growing colder at the statement.

Usagi pushes the sleeves up on her long sleeved t-shirt before stepping around Haruka then walks over to Mamoru with a hard glint in her eyes. "If you think for once that I am going to honor this ridiculous proposal then you are more out of your mind then I thought, Mamoru."

Mamoru lets out a snort and narrows his eyes at the girl in front of him. "You have no choice, Usagi; the arrangement was made when we were children before your father decided you'd be best suited as a male. Besides, I know your secret. How do you think the kids at school would react at finding out that their golden boy is actually a girl."

"Are you threatening her?" Michiru asks from her place on the couch beside Hotaru who now is standing up to go stand next to her sister.

"No, not a threat, more of an observation, really," he states with a cold smirk which makes Usagi leap at the black haired boy, but is restrained by Haruka and Hotaru.

"GET OUT!" Haruka yells while struggling with Usagi who is trying to wipe the condescending smirk from his face.

"You can't hide behind Haruka and Hotaru forever, Usagi. You will be mine," he states coldly before turning around and walks out of the room chuckling softly under his breath.

Haruka puts Usagi down on the couch and tries to calm the girl down while Hotaru and Michiru sit on either side of the girl and holds onto the girl while she fumes at what Mamoru had said.

"Usa, it's okay. Dad won't let you be married off to Mamoru the jerk. So it's alright," Hotaru states while hugging the girl beside her who is still beet red from trying to get away from Haruka.

Haruka and Michiru look at each other knowing that, that statement doesn't hold much water since Haruka was being made to marry off to someone else that isn't Michiru while Michiru was in the same predicament, but decide against saying that, instead they agree with Hotaru and slowly calm, Usa down enough that they can all talk civilly without Usa flying off the handle.

"It's time like these that I'm sort of glad that my father decided to raise me as a boy," Usa mumbles into Haruka's shoulder who laughs and pats the girls head before leaning back and away from her niece.

"See there are good things that came out of this and now if only you could find a nice girl to settle down with, then Mamoru won't be such an issue nor would his gold digging father," Haruka states with a smile on her face when Usagi goes red.

It was indeed common knowledge that the three girls were more inclined towards the fairer sex then they were to boys, which helped them with their male upbringing according to their dad's and Usagi's grandfather, but the constant threat of being found out was enough to make them not pursue such activities except for Haruka who had found Michiru while they were still in high school. Michiru kept turning down Haruka when she asked the girl for a date until one day Haruka came up to ask Michiru why she wouldn't go out with her. Michiru mumbled to her friend that she was into girls not boys and so Michiru became the first person to know the three girls secret.

Usagi had wondered about that many times. What were the odds that the girl, Haruka was in love with would turn out to be into girls to begin with. She had once asked Haruka that who proceeded to laugh before shrugging and saying that it was fate. Usagi would frown at that before wondering if maybe she and Hotaru were indeed destined to be with someone. That was when Mamoru started to come around with his father to pressure her father into giving Usagi's hand to his son as was arranged at their births. 

When Usagi had asked Haruka why that man would want his son to get married to her when she was living a life as a boy. Haruka would just shake her head and tell the girl that everyone had their own agenda and that it was probably because she was the heir to her father's fortune while his partner was just a greedy asshole.

Usa lets out a sigh and shakes her head to get away from such intense thoughts when she felt fingers on her sides and begins to squirm around laughing while Haruka and Hotaru attack their mopping niece on her very ticklish sides.

"Stop, stop. Please, God, Stop!" Usagi screams out breathlessly while wiggling around on the couch from her aunt's attacks.

Haruka and Hotaru laugh, but let up on their attacks then sit on the couch with Hotaru next to Usagi and Haruka next to Michiru, but not before Haruka and Hotaru share a look then look back towards Usagi who is whipping some tears from her cheeks.

"So, Usagi, tell me about this girl that you met at school," Haruka states with a shared, evil grin between her and her sister.

Usagi's aura darkens and she clenches her hands into fists. "Why are you brining up that Evil, Banshee? I don't want to talk about her. First she attacks me with a shoe then she calls me a Hentai because I walked into the girl's locker room by accident. Then she accuses me of being chased by boys because I'm stealing their girlfriends and peeping on them in the locker room," Usagi spits out vehemently while crossing her arms over her chest and sits back on the couch. "She's evil. The devil incarnate I'm telling you!"

Hotaru leans over Usa and looks over at Haruka. "She's purely human. She's not the devil here to torment Usa as she likes to think."

Haruka chuckles then leans over and ruffles the hair on the girls head. "Aww, it sounds like you like her."

Usa slaps the other girls hand away from her head and shoots her an evil glare that would make a lesser human being, spontaneously combust. "I do not like that banshee! I never want to see her again!" Usagi exclaims before jumping up and away from the couch. "I'm going to bed."

Usagi walks out to room fuming while her Aunts laugh at the predicament their niece is in. Michiru watches the girl walk out of the room before slapping her girlfriend upside the head.

"That was mean, Haruka!" Michiru states while her girlfriend looks at her with a wounded look on her face before beginning to apologize profusely to her girlfriend for her childish behavior.

Hotaru rolls her eyes. 'This is what Usa and I have to look forward too? I just hope we don't end up with girls like Michiru.'


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

The alarm clock rings bringing a hand out of the pile of blankets and slams down on top of it turning it off. The figure raises their head from under the blankets and blue eyes stare at it blurry eyed before groaning.

"Five o'clock already? Why do I have to get up this early again?" Usagi asks; flinging her blankets off in a flourish only to let out a groan when the injuries from the week scream from the sudden movement making her grimace slightly.

She sits on the edge of the bed in boxers and a white tank top when the door to her is flung open announcing Hotaru's cheerful presence. She sits down on the bed beside Usagi and nudges the growling blonde gently with a shoulder.

"I'll bet that you're glad it's the weekend aren't you? After the week you had, I'd be glad as well," the dark haired girl states in a sing song voice that makes Usagi groan loudly.

"Why do you have to be so damn cheerful in the morning?" Usagi grumbles; getting out of bed and walks over to her dresser to find something to wear for the day.

"Well that's easy, because it's a beautiful day. The birds are singing, the air is crisp and there's nothing better than being up early to watch the sun rise," Hotaru retorts still in her sing song voice that makes Usagi wince slightly.

"Hotaru, it's the weekend. Did you forget what is going on this weekend? Does family reunion ring a bell to you?" Usagi asks from where she is standing, rooting around in her drawers for something appropriate to wear for their family gala while Hotaru grimaces at the remembrance of what today is.

"Oh yeah, I forgot about that. Damn it, Usagi, you just had to rain on my parade didn't you?" The girl asks before walking out of the room, but stops to look over at Usagi. "Dad says that breakfast is in twenty and that you should try to make it down before then. He wants to talk to you about something."

Usa lets out a groan then waves a hand at Hotaru to acknowledge that she heard her before walking over to her bathroom and tosses her cloths down on the hamper then prepares her shower and for the day to come.

Once finished with the shower, she dresses in light tan slacks, a red long sleeved shirt with a black element t-shirt over it and black boots. She looks at herself in the mirror before racking her fingers through her hair then lets out a sigh before walking out of her bedroom and down the stairs to the dining room where she's met by Luna who grabs her gently by the arm and proceeds to pull her aside.

"Mamoru and his father are in there. Your grandfather has an announcement to make. He wouldn't say what it is though," she hisses in a whisper while Usagi's eyes narrow to slits.

"I swear if he makes me marry that pompous ass hole, I'm gonna leave this place so fast it'll make their head spin," Usagi whispers back to Luna while glancing towards the door and then back to the head maid.

"Don't worry. Ruka has already said the same thing when I warned her. You do have back up even if it will get them in trouble. No one will allow him to marry you, Usagi. Now, get in there before they wonder what's going on," Luna states before kissing her cheek and pats her on the back.

She watches her young charge go into the dining room with her head held high and stifles a chuckle while shaking her head. 'They won't know what hit them if they try to force her into this marriage. She's so much like her mother, god rest her soul.' She thinks to herself before going off towards the kitchen to warn the servers about the storm that is brewing while Usagi stands in the dining room looking around at the people gathered.

She growls under her breath, but keeps a stoic face when she notices Mamoru looking at her with a triumphant smirk on his face. She glances over at Ruka while walking towards her seat and notices that the womans hands are clenched so tightly together that her knuckles are turning white from the strain she's putting on them.

She smiles towards her father who smiles back brightly while she sits down in her chair and a server brings in her breakfast. She eats quietly, every once in a while she glances over towards her grandfather who is sitting at the front of the table. When he notices that she's looking at him. He puts on a small smile and nods his head towards her which causes her to raise an eyebrow, but puts it out of her mind while she eats her eggs and toast.

After everyone is finished eating her grandfather rises from his chair and looks at their guests sitting at the table before clearing his throat. "I have thought long and hard about what you have proposed Hiro, but I must decline what you are saying. For the simple fact that I don't have a granddaughter named Usagi Tuskino, but a grandson named Ren Tuskino. The girl that was promised to your son is no longer for I believe it says on a birth certificate Ren Tuskino not Usagi Tuskino and it would not do for two boys to get married now would it?" He asks a ghost of a smile playing across his lips before sitting back down. "You are excused. Please don't darken my doorstep ever again."

Genma and Mamoru Chiba both shoot up from their chair while Ruka, Hotaru and Usa share a smirk between the three of them. Genma storms out of the room while his son strolls casually out of the room, but stops and leans down to whisper to Usa.

"This isn't over. You haven't heard the end of this. I'll make your life miserable. You do realize this don't you?" He asks while playing with the back of her neck which makes Usagi frown and jerk away from his touch.

"Oh don't worry, Mamoru, I won't forget this at all and I'll make yours even more miserable," she whispers back with a sweet smile on her face. "Try me. You won't like it when I do. You aren't under my father's protection anymore because you were a possible suitor. My grandfather has made up his mind. You're free game now and you'll regret that for as long as you live. So I wouldn't be making promises I can't keep."

She winks at him before turning away and begins to chat with Ruka who is sitting beside her, letting him know that she had dismissed him as if he was no more than a common servant. He growls under his breath and storms out of the room leaving a smirking and hand slapping girls behind him.

Usagi looks down at her grandfather and lets a smile come to her face before turning back to Ruka and Hotaru once again. "So, are you two ready for your siblings and cousins?"

"Oh, don't make me laugh. I'm never ready for them," Ruka states with a chuckle before shoving some food into her mouth.

"Ruka, will you slow down. You aren't a friggin garbage disposal!" Hotaru retorts while slapping her sister on the arm.

"Buh ah'm a gwoien irl," Ruka states while her mouth is full which leaves Usagi and Hotaru looking at each other before turning back to the older girl.

"What?" They ask together with looks of disbelief when Ruka swallows.

"I said, but I'm a growing girl," Ruka answers before taking a sip of her tea.

"Ruka, you're older then the two of us. I think you're grown enough," Usagi states while waving her fork around to make her point which has Hotaru and Ruka backing away. "Oh, for the love of Kami, I only hit someone once with my fork and that was when I was ten. So just stop being so immature!"

Hotaru and Ruka look at each other and begin to laugh which makes Usagi roll her eyes and scoff before she starts laughing as well.

Down at the other end of the table Usagi's father and grandfather look at each other than smile at the happiness that is once again in the house. They both know that what they are doing is putting a lot of strain on the girls, but at the same time they know that it'll help them build better character and in the end isn't that what all parents want for the their kids, even if it is hard?

* * *

><p>Later in the morning the trio had decided to go out for a walk to get away from the bustling maids and servants that were running around the rooms trying to get ready for their family reunion. Usagi and Hotaru were trying to read while Ruka was trying to watch T.V. and had been asked three times to move to where they decided that it was time to get out there before they started to take pot shots with rubber bands or as Ruka had suggested, really heavy books.<p>

Usagi walks between Ruka and Hotaru while they walk down the street with her hands in her pockets, by then she had changed out of her good pants so not to get her father upset with her and had on baggy cargo pants with a skateboard hanging out of her back pocket.

Hotaru looks at the skateboard hanging out of her pants and the belt that was barely holding them up. "What do you have that again?"

"In case I get inspired and decide to do some riding," Usagi states with a shrug of her shoulders.

"How in the hell did you get that past Dad?" Ruka asks while walking with her hands behind her head.

"Why do you think I had you walk behind me and Hotaru walks on the other side of me?" Usagi asks with a smirk while the other two roll their eyes.

They continue to walk down the slightly deserted area for a while until they come towards a stretch of sidewalk that no one is using and a lot of benches. Usagi stops and her eyes grow wide at the sight of the deserted area. She pulls her skateboard wheel out of her back pocket then looks around before taking off down the side walk in a rush of air.

Once she has enough speed, she olies up onto one of the bench and fifty-fifty's all the way to the next one where she jumps up and performs a perfect kickflip. She lands and continues on down the sidewalk. She turns her head slightly to see Ruka and Hotaru shaking their heads before turning back in time to see someone in front of her.

"Shit!" She exclaims before putting her foot down to stop herself only to end up running into the person that was on the sidewalk.

She lands sprawled out onto of the person that she had run into. She reaches down to push herself only to have her hands connect with a very soft chest. Her eyes grow wide, before she hesitantly looks down and sees hazel colored eyes narrowed in annoyance. She scrambles to her feet then looks around for her skateboard only to have a hand coming towards her face, but the smack doesn't land due to her quick reflexes she grabs the hand and pulls Rei closer to her so that they are now eye to eye.

"Let me go, you pervert," Rei yells; wiggling around in Usagi grasp trying to get away from her.

Usagi shrugs her shoulders as she lets go of the hand as Rei wrenches her hand away from Usa only to land sprawled out on the sidewalk once again. Usagi crosses her arms over her chest and stares down at Rei with her head tilted towards the side a bit. Rolling her eyes she reaches a hand down to help the girl to her feet, but her hand is batted away by a sneering yet blushing Rei.

"Are you always this nice with everyone you meet?" Usagi asks; looking around again for her skateboard.

"Not to Hentai perverts that try to cop a feel after running a person over!" Rei spits out vehemently causing the blonde to roll her eyes once more.

"Look I didn't mean to run into you. You just sorta got in the way is all. I tried to stop. It wasn't like I meant to bowl you over, Banshee!" Usagi states with a frown on her face.

Rei gets up and brushes herself off before glaring at the young man standing in front of her and lets out a puff of breath before crossing her arms across her chest. By then Hotaru and Ruka came over just as Makoto and Minako were coming up from the other side of Rei.

The four of them let out a sigh when they notice the two people squaring off in the middle of the sidewalk before rushing over to them before things got more heated than is usual does when those to meet. It's like mixing oil and water, but which one was which they weren't sure as of right now.

"What are you two doing now?" The four ask the other two at the same time then laugh quietly.

"He/she started it!" They exclaim together while pointing at the other one.

"He ran into me like some crazed freak then proceeded to grab at me," Rei states with her hands now on her hips.

"I did no such thing, you Banshee! I already apologized for running into you. You just came out of now where. Maybe if you were to get your eyes checked every now and then, you would've seen me coming, but no. You just stood there like some sort of, cow caught in a field of dreams!" Usagi states but backs away when Rei lunges at her.

"Take that back you damn hentai!" Rei screams while chasing Usagi around the sidewalk.

"Hey, if the shoe fits!" Usagi states while turning around to run backwards then sticks her tongue out at the furious girl only to be tackled by Ruka who pulls the taunting girl away from the dark haired one.

"I see what you mean," she whispers to Hotaru while leaning away from a struggling Usagi so that she can't hear her.

Hotaru rolls her eyes then looks over towards Rei and her group who is being restrained, none too pleased, by Makoto. The two of them share a look and roll their eyes at the same time before looking towards their friend/relative.

Hotaru and Ruka bow towards the other two. "We're sorry for our nephew's behavior."

Minako and Makoto bow back. "Yeah, we're sorry for Rei's as well."

Usagi and Rei both turn to look at their group and frown. "Don't apologize!" They both exclaim at the same time.

"Well we better get going," Ruka states before pulling Usagi away after getting her skateboard and thrust it towards Usagi before pushing her in front of her.

Makoto and Minako wave towards them before pulling Rei away from where she was standing fuming. The two girls look at each other before looking back at Rei.

"You know, Rei, if I didn't know better, I'd think that you like, Ren," Minako states with one of her eyebrows arched while they walk down the street away from the other three.

Rei stops in the middle of the sidewalk and stares at her friends while they continue to walk off down the street. "What? I don't like that, pervert!"

"Well, you have to admit your behavior has been stranger than usual and I've never really seen you so worked up over a guy before," Makoto states with a shrug of her shoulders after stopping and turns around to face Rei.

"Makoto has a point, Rei. You never acted this way around that jerk, Yuuichirou and he actually was a pervert. You have to admit, it's sort of strange," Minako states before flicking her blonde hair over her shoulder before she looks towards Makoto and they start off back down the sidewalk.

Rei follows behind them with her head down. Is it true? Does she really like that bastard? No way. She's not that way. She shakes her head and tells herself that her friends are being baka's before running to catch up with her friends.

While on the other side of the sidewalk, going in a different direction Hotaru, Ruka and Usagi are having the same conversation.

"You got to admit, Usa, it's just strange. I mean, I've never seen you act this way with anyone before. Usually, you are so soft spoken and you get along with just about everyone that you come across, well, unless they are the boys at school who are trying to beat you up because they are so insecure," Ruka states with a slight smile on her face when she looks over towards Usagi who is staring down at her shoes.

"Look, I don't know what I get that way. She's just horrible. She totally rubs me the wrong way. I don't know," Usagi huffs out feeling frustrated by the whole ordeal that she's going through with Rei.

Does she really like her? Well maybe, but who could like her? She's just so horrible and awful and don't not forget that she's a banshee as well. So yeah, there is absolutely no way that she can like her, right? Usagi lets out a breath of hair which makes her bangs flutter out of her eyes before looking over towards her Aunts who are looking at each other with knowing looks, which makes Usagi frown then speed up her walking.

"Come on, we've got to get back to the house. I'm sure that the party has started and grandfather is looking for us. We've been out to long as it is," Usagi states before shoving her hands into her pockets and looks down at the street dejectedly.

"Look, it's alright. For what it's worth, she's one hot looking girl. You could've done worse," Ruka states with a laugh before wrapping an arm around her niece's shoulders.

"Right, sure, whatever you say, Ruka," Usagi states with scoff before shrugging the arm from her shoulders.

"Hey, I've got an idea. Let's go to the club. That always takes your mind off things," Ruka suggests with a wide smile on her face.

"Um, did you forget that you are meeting your intended, Ruka?" Usagi states with a smirk when Ruka's shoulders drop and a frown crosses her face.

"Don't remind me. I don't want to give up, Michi!" Ruka exclaims while rivers of tears run down her face.

Hotaru and Usagi grimace while sizeable grimaces appear on the side of their head before they both try to comfort the very unmanly crying of Ruka.

"Oh suck it up, Ruka. Maybe it won't be that bad!" Hotaru suggests, but that only makes the rivers run faster.

Usagi reaches over and slaps the girl upside the head and hisses at her. "Good going, baka!"

Hotaru rubs the side of her head and winces before sticking her tongue out at her niece then turns her attention back to Ruka.

"Look, who knows, maybe it'll turn out to be, Michi. I mean, dad knows how much you like Michi, so maybe he did something right and had it set up so it was like an arrange marriage, but really isn't," Usagi suggests while looking around towards Hotaru who nods her head in agreement.

"Yeah, who knows," Hotaru agrees before handing Ruka a handkerchief from her pocket to clear away the rivers of tears.

"You think so?" Ruka sniffs while whipping the moisture from her face.

"Yeah, sure, I mean, anything is possible right?" Usagi asks before they continue down the street.

"Yeah, anything is possible," Ruka agrees then strikes a pose and lifts her fist towards the air. "And if not, then I'll run away with my love and we'll live happily ever after!"

Hotaru and Usagi grimace again before rolling their eyes and continue down the street towards the mansion, leaving a still posing in the middle of the street while other people look at her strangely and mutter things about mother ship and drugs before continuing on their way.

Usagi lets out a sigh while all of her relatives gather around her and pinch her cheeks, pat her on the head, tell her how much she's grown and much more embarrassing things before she's finally rescued by her Aunt Hotaru who smiles tightly at everyone and apologizes for taking Usa away from them, but she really needed her help with something.

"Thanks," Usagi whispers while they walk away from what she fondly refers to as the vultures.

Hotaru smiles at her niece before shrugging her shoulders and they make their way through the crowd to where Ruka is holing up at looking for as if her puppy had been kicked by a very cruel kid while she looked on helplessly.

"Hey, Ruka, how are you holding up?" Usagi asks once she's seated by her Aunt who looks over at her with a sorrowful look.

"They are going to have me engaged to someone else. I just know it, Usa. They are going to make me give up Michi, just because of some stupid promise. Why do I have to live within this family?" She asks the ceiling that she is now looking up at.

Hotaru and Usagi share a look before they both clamp their hands onto Ruka's shoulders and pull her away from the chair and over towards where the older male of the household stands. Usagi stops Ruka from going over towards him and with Hotaru hot on her heels she walks up to her grandfather and asks him politely if she can speak with him. He nods his head with his eyebrow raised slightly, but bows before the man that he was talking to before going with his daughter and granddaughter towards the other end of the room so that they can't be heard while they talk with him.

"Grandfather, Ruka is very distraught. Could you please announce who she's going to be married to before she goes to pieces?" Usagi asks while looking up at her grandfather with pleading eyes.

"She's worried that she'll be marrying someone that she doesn't know, isn't she?" The older man asks with a stoic look on his face.

Usagi nods her head and looks over at the hand wringing Ruka off to the side. She's never seen her Aunt like this. Usually she's very together and stronger than this, but with the prospect of losing her love, Usagi guessed that it was doing some very uncharacteristic things to her strong Aunt.

"Alright, though I wish she wouldn't worry so much about this. I only have her best interests at heart, but if that's what she wants then I'll be glad to do so," he states before moving away from his granddaughter and youngest daughter to stand at the head of the room to make his announcement and to introduce Ruka to her future bride.

Hotaru and Usagi look at each other before moving over towards Ruka and take her by the arms again to move her towards where the older man stands for his announcement. He claps his hands together to get the attention of everyone in the room before clearing his voice before beginning.

"My family, as you know, I have been in negotiations for the arrangement of my second youngest son, Ruka. A couple of weeks ago, the family that's daughter will be marrying Ruka has agreed to the arrangement and I have asked the family to gather here tonight with us so that I might introduce, Ruka's bride to all of you," he states with a smile on his face before waving towards the door that leads to the hall which the servants open and stand away from it.

Usagi's mouth drops open when she sees who walks through the door and she nudges Ruka who is currently looking down at the floor, still wringing her hands together. The nudge brings her head up and a large smile spreads across her face when she sees who the girl and the family is, before breaking through the crowd towards the girl.

Hotaru and Usagi share a smile before turning back towards Ruka who is currently lifting Michiru up into the air and swinging her around before putting her down on the floor and kiss's her gently.

"Well, he did say that he had her best interests at heart. Guess he wasn't just blowing smoke our butts this time," Hotaru states while crossing her arms over her chest and watches her sister and soon to be sister in law staring into each other's eyes happily.

Usagi lets out a laugh before nudging her Aunt. "Careful, you're next. You might not be as lucky as Ruka is."

"Yeah, well, I haven't met anyone that I'm interested in either," Hotaru states in a scoff before moving off into the gathered crowd.

Usagi leans her head to the side and wonders about that for a moment, before shaking it and walks off after her Aunt while giving an excuse to each person that stops to talk to her.

"Sorry, going to help, Hotaru."

"No, I can't help with that."

"What? You want me to put in a good word to my grandfather for what?"

Usagi shakes her head when she finally gets out of the house. "Damn, Vultures," she mutters to herself before moving towards a tree that they used to climb when they were younger and tosses an apple back and forth that she had grabbed before coming outside.

"I knew I'd find you here," Usagi states while leaning against the tree trunk and continues to play with the apple.

"What do you want, Usa? I'm moping," Hotaru responds from her spot up in the tree.

"What do I want? Well, first I want world peace, then I want to be able to enter a real skateboard competition and win it then after all that is done I want to know what's eating you," Usagi states before taking a bit from her apple.

"Yeah, sure, dad and Han would have a fit if they found out that you have entered a competition. Well any competition for that matter. You know how much they both hate calling attention to yourself," she states with laugh.

Usagi laughs along with Hotaru before shaking her head. "No, really, what's wrong, Taru?"

"I don't want to get married, Usa. I don't want to get married and I don't want to get involved with the company. I don't have the mentality for that. I'm afraid that if I do get involved I'll end up ruining it," she states with sigh then shakes her head.

"Yeah, I can see it now, there goes the company," Usagi states before tossing her apple core towards the pond for fish to pick at. "You'll single handedly be responsible for bringing down the whole company within matters of months."

Hotaru jumps down for her low perch on a branch and shakes her head at Usagi. "Why do you have to make a joke out of everything?"

"Because you take everything too seriously and worry way too much about the future," she states with a shrug of her shoulders and a smirk on her face.

"Yeah well, one of has too, because you don't care at all!" Hotaru exclaims before ruffling her niece's hair and smiles back at her.

"Come on, we should get back before they form a search party and come looking for us and I have to endure more cheek pinching," Usagi states after swatting Hotaru's hand away from her head.

"Lead on, oh fearless leader," Hotaru states with a mock bow which results in a slight slap to the shoulder. "OW! You're so abusive to me! You should respect your elders!"

"You're only two months older than me!" Usagi exclaims with a scoff while the two girls walk back towards the mansion.

"Details, details. Spare me!" Hotaru states before ruffling the girls hair again and takes off running when Usagi growls at her.

* * *

><p>That Monday finds a droopy eyed Usagi and a cheerful Hotaru walking to school.<p>

"Man, I'm so tired. I didn't get any sleep last night at all," Usagi states while pushing her bangs away from her eyes while Hotaru giggles softly to herself.

"Aww did widdle, Usagi, stay up all night. She must've given you a real run for your money to stay up all night last night," Hotaru states innocently while bringing a hand up to her face to cover the grin that is shaping on her face.

"It so was not my fault that she came into my room last night! She's the one that wanted to do it all night long! Not me!" Usagi screams at her Aunt whose eyes grow wide before her face darkens to an interesting shade of red.

She had seen Makoto, Rei and Minako walking towards them and they had waved towards Hotaru, but then stopped when they heard Usagi's outburst, their faces ranging from mortified to downright rage filled.

"Umm, Usa, could you do a favor for me and turn the dial on your volume to like, one instead of sixty-five?" Hotaru asks before pointing out the girls that are now walking towards them.

Usagi turns blood shot eyes up to see the girls walking towards them and in her sleep induced haze blurts out the first thing that comes to her mind.

"Hey, it's the ban..."

A book to the back of her head by Hotaru stops her from finishing her sentence and she turns around to face her Aunt with a hurt filled look on her face.

"Hentai," Rei states while the words that Ren had shouted echoes throughout her mind.

* * *

><p>True to his word, Chiba Mamoru stood outside the school with a group of boys, waiting to pounce on the unsuspecting Usagi. He wasn't about to allow that girl to get the better of him, but when he tried to tell the boys that <em>he <em>was actually a _she_ they wouldn't believe him, but they liked his idea of getting back at Ren for all of his meddling with their woman.

He would take what he could get though, so he decided that if he couldn't ruin her reputation at the school then he'd ruin her face after all, what was anyone going to do to him? His father was the vice president at the largest company in town and no one was going to take him on or his father for that matter. So he feared nothing and knew that he would come out on top after making Usagi pay for her insolence towards him.

He had searched for years for Usagi's weakness, but so far he had yet to find one. He knew that everyone had one, but with her it was like she didn't have weakness at all. Everything she did was out of strength and confidence, from school to fighting, there was no one and nothing that could bring her down, but he knew that her luck would soon run out, it was just a matter of time and when that time came, he would be the one standing above her laughing.

Now he had a little under half of the boy population within his hand and he knew that he wasn't going to lose this time, that with this much power behind him, he was going to win and put that bitch in her place once and for all.

The boys watched from their place, talking trash about Ren and about the girls that go to their school.

"So I asked out, Stephanie, but she said that she didn't want to go out with me and that she wanted someone that looked more like, Ren-sempai," a boy to Mamoru's left was telling his buddies while rivers of tears fall down his cheeks.

Mamoru reaches over and slaps the boy upside the head. "Shut the hell up. Do you want him to hear you if he walks by, baka?"

"No, Mamoru-sempai," the boy states while rubbing the side of his head.

"Good, now, shut the hell up before I shut your crying mouth up," Mamoru hisses out before going back to looking out for Usagi.

Mamoru lets out a sigh and shakes his head. Yeah, he's got a bit of the boy population behind him, but they were just pathetic, but hey it's power.

"Let's move out. I think I see him," Mamoru states before they leave the alcove they are standing in.

* * *

><p>A cellphone ringing pulls Usagi out of her almost catatonic state while she walks with her head leaning against Hotaru's shoulder and she briefly wanders if someone will answer the annoying sounding cellphone for a moment while yawning.<p>

She stops mid yawn when she notices that the other girls were looking at her with raised eyebrows.

"Are you going to answer that, hentai?" Rei questions with an annoyed look on her face then rolls her eyes at the surprised look on the boy's face.

Usagi lets out a quiet yelp when she realizes that it's her cellphone that's ringing and pulls the cellphone from her pocket and looks at it for a moment before raising an eyebrow when she sees the number that's on the id then flips it open.

"Yeah, hello?" she answers then blushes when she hears a deep voice coming through the cellphone.

"_Well hello there, lover boy." _The voice on the other end says in a sultry voice.

Her eyes open wide at that before she grumbles slightly under her breath.

"Nanami?" she questions in a whisper before turning away from the others while they stare at her with raised eyebrows.

Hotaru rolls her eyes when she over hears the voice coming from the other side of the phone then looks towards the other's and sees their curious faces well everyone except Rei who seems to be seething about something. Hotaru raises an eyebrow and shakes her head.

'If looks could kill, Usa would be dead by now,' she thinks to herself. 'What's up with that?'

"_Yeah, I've just entered the gate and I'll be over to where you are soon. You've got something of mine_."

"I do?" Usagi questions before raising an eyebrow then takes the phone away from her ear and looks at it. 'No, I don't have her cellphone this time. I wonder what it is.'

"_Be there in a minute, lover boy._"

'Oh goody," Usagi thinks before hanging up the phone, not noticing the look that she's getting from Rei at the moment.

'He's nothing, but a good for nothing, boy. Always thinking with one thing,' Rei thinks while still staring at the baka of a boy with her arms crossed over her chest and her chin up looking down at the boy in front of her. 'Probably making plans with his lover for another romp in the hay tonight.'

Minako and Makoto exchange looks and raise their eyebrow at each other before looking back over at Rei then back off a little.

"Thought she said that she didn't like Ren?" Minako asks when they are out of ear shot.

"Your guess is as good as mine. She's having some major bad mood swings right now. Maybe it's her time of the month?" Makoto muses out loud before exchanging shrugs with Minako then walk back over to the majoring mood changing Rei.

"What the hell is going on here? Are you fucking kidding me? "A familiar voice shouts off from on the other side of them scaring Rei, Makoto and Minako.

Usagi and Hotaru look at each other before exchanging a roll of eyes and slight sigh at the familiar voice shouting towards them.

Usagi puts her cellphone back into her pocket and turns to face Mamoru who is walking towards them with a large amount of boys behind him, but the other boys stop when they see Rei, Minako and Makoto standing in front of Usagi and Hotaru.

Minako, Rei and Makoto blush profusely when they hear the boys begin to whisper to themselves about how pretty they look and how their hair color brings out their eyes and other nonsense which makes Mamoru turn around with a frown on his face to stare at the boys behind him.

"SHUT UP YOU IDIOTS! THIS IS NOT THE TIME TO BE OGGLING GIRLS!" He shouts with his fist raised and shaking it at them while they cower behind each other at the dark cloud that now covers Mamoru.

A motorbike stops them from advancing towards Usagi and they all turn to see a female getting off of her bike and pull her helmet off before shaking out her long blonde hair. She smiles over at Usagi and strides over to the now blushing girl.

"Hey, lover boy, you've got something of mine," Nanami states when she gets close enough to Usagi and hugs her tightly to her, but with the height difference it's more like she's trying to smother Usagi with her breasts.

Behind Usagi she hears the boys whispering to themselves.

"Who's that?"

"I've never seen her before."

"Wow, she's beautiful."

"Damn that, Ren. He could have any girl here, but now he's taking girls that are older than him? I hate that bastard!"

"Wow, she looks so hot in that!"

The woman that they are talking about was wearing tight denim blue jeans, with black biker boots and a tight baby t under her leather jacket. She wraps an arm around Usagi's shoulders and leans her breast onto of the girls head and smiles at the boys that are talking about her with a twinkle in her dark brown eyes.

Usagi chuckles nervously, while trying to school her face to remain blush free while Hotaru rolls her eyes at the situation that Usagi is in before looking around at the confused, curious and one rage filled looks that surround her.

Nanami leans down and whispers into Usagi's ear. "Are you having problems with Mamoru the bastard?" She asks her lips scantily close to the other girl's ear.

"Nothing I can't handle," Usagi whispers back with a roll of her eyes.

"Good, now, give me back my wallet. It fell into the front pocket of your messenger bag last night and I forgot to grab it before I left this morning. All the bouncing around last night knocked it in there," Nanami states quietly while reaching a hand out for the wallet.

Usagi reached into the front pocket and retrieved the wallet that lay inside of it and handed it over to Nanami who smiled at her before kissing her on the cheek then reaches over and gives a quick squeeze to Hotaru's shoulder before climbing back onto the motorbike.

Hotaru and Usagi share a relieved smile that Nanami's twisted sense of humor didn't come into play while the other's stood around them because Nanami was known to say and do things to get the two into trouble with other people because she thought it was funny.

"Oh yeah, before I go, did you happen to see a bag in your room? I think I left it in there. It's the one that has the condoms in it that glow in the dark? Oh and I get off work early tonight so I should be back to the mansion before six, be sure that you're rested up for tonight. You might have gotten one up on me last night, but tonight it'll be different. I'll make sure to get plenty of caffeine drinks so that we can stay up all night and play," Nanami states before blowing a kiss towards Usagi and speeds off on her bike.

Usagi and Hotaru grimace before closing their eyes as Nanami's words vibrate through their minds.

Usagi opens her eyes to slits only to see a dark cloud surrounding the boys that are gathered and a disgusted look on Mamoru's face. A quick glance towards Rei reveals the same dark cloud which matches the boys.

She gulps hands her brief case to Hotaru before taking off as if the devil himself was on her heels.

"GET THAT BASTARD!" The boys scream and start off after Usagi with Mamoru in the lead.

Hotaru goes pale and watches the gang of boys take off after her niece before looking around. She grabs Makoto's arm while she grows an ashen color at her friend's predicament as well and the two of them run off towards the school.

"We need to get back up. Come with me. I know a couple of boys that don't hate, Ren," Hotaru gasps out while running towards the school hoping that the two boys are in front of their lockers like usual.

She races through the hallways mumbling to her-self while dodging around other students that mill around the area and some open lockers. Much to her relief the two boys stand there with the rest of the kendo club members. She races over to them and skid to a halt.

Matt, Fred!" She cries out to the two boys who turn towards her with raised eyebrows at Taru's unusual look of panic.

She stands with the other boys surrounding her and Rei and Minako standing off to the side with Makoto standing beside her.

"It's really bad this time; they've got Mamoru with them this time. Ren needs some help and I can't do it by myself," Hotaru explains while the others nod their heads knowing about the animosity between Mamoru and Ren.

"Right, let's go. We'll help him if we can," Motoki states while some other boys nod their heads. "Which way did they go?"

"Towards the other side of the school where the gymnasium is," Hotaru states with a sigh of relief.

"Alright, why don't you go to class and we'll take care of it?" Matt suggests, but Hotaru shakes her head.

"No, Makoto and I are coming with you. We're just as good as Ren is and there are a lot of them. You're going to need all the help that you can get this time," Hotaru states before walking off with Motoki beside her.

"Alright, let's go," he states before he, Fred, Makoto, Hotaru and the rest of the fencing club race out of the school towards the place they last saw Usagi running to.

* * *

><p>Later in the morning Minako gets a call from Makoto saying that they haven't found, Ren, but neither have Mamoru and their gang so they were coming back to class and wanted to know if they had missed anything.<p>

Minako tells her that she hasn't and to hurry up because it was almost time for them to start class.

A couple of minutes later find Hotaru and Makoto back in class talking to Minako and Rei when Hotaru's phone goes off. She looks at the caller id and sees that it's Usagi calling.

"Hey okay, that sounds good. Are you coming back? When? Alright, I'll meet you then," Hotaru states before hanging up the phone then looks over towards Makoto who has a worried look on her face.

"That was Ren, he said he'll be back by the end of class and to hold him a seat at lunch time," she states before the teacher calls them to attention while relief flows through Hotaru.

* * *

><p><em> To be Continued<em>

* * *

><p>Author Note: I will probably be ending up reuploading this chapter later on. I am still not thrilled with how this turned out so be on the look out for it. :)<p> 


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

When lunch time rolled around Usagi strolls over to the tree she and her Aunt sit under during the nice weather after running all over campus to get away from Mamoru and his gang. She stops for a moment to grab a drink from one of the vending machines and notices that Hotaru is surrounded by the girls talking animatedly.

As Hotaru explains the situation between Nanami and Usagi, the other girls look at her with dumbfounded looks upon their faces. They glance at each other every so often as the girls tries to them to understand that mornings events.

"So let me get this straight. Nanami is actually your older sister and is Ren's Aunt," Minako asks with a raised eyebrow, leaning her head to the side, staring at the young man in front of her.

Hotaru nods her head and chuckles nervously. "Yeah, she's the eccentric one in the family, well, actually more like the black sheep really," she states; sweat dropping at the thought of some of the racier things that she had pulled throughout the years.

"Didn't seem like that from where I was standing. She was all over him," Rei states with a snort that makes everyone turn their heads towards her.

"Aww is someone jealous?" A voice asks next to her ear and she lets out an eep, bringing her large text book up to hit the person that's beside her out of reflex.

She looks down when she notices familiar platinum haired head falling beside her. Her eyes grow wide when a mumbled, "Who got the number of that truck?" By the dazed looking young man sprawled out at her side.

Blue eyes comes back to focus and narrow slightly at the girl sitting beside her. "What the hell was that for, you damn troll?" Usagi hisses out rubbing a tender spot on her forehead where the text book had come into contact only to wince at the shot of pain.

Amethyst eyes narrow back at the platinum haired boy beside her. "I should be asking you the same thing, you damn pervert. You snuck up on me!" Rei screams, pointing a finger at the boy.

Both girls jump to their feet and stand nose to nose yelling at one another as they jab each other in the chest. The other girls look on their faces turning red with embarrassment over their friend's antics.

"Banshee!"

"Hentai!"

"DEMON!"

"BAKA!"

Hotaru covers her head with her messenger bag to try and hide from the two combatants. The other two girls look away from the fighting duo their faces turning redder when they notice everyone in the quad looking their way. Trying to repress their blushes; they jump up to intercept Rei who had by that time pulled her fist back getting ready to hit the blonde haired man in frustration.

They put their hands under Rei's arms; apologize profusely to the two boys and scurries off with the flaying Rei, who is bellowing to the two girls to let her go almost knocking Makoto in the face in the process with a wildly swung fist. Makoto ducks the fist and continues to drag the dark haired woman across the quad.

Usagi takes a step forward grumbling under her breath only to have Hotaru grab her arm before she can take another step. Hotaru pulls the fuming blond over to the tree and sits down only to have to tug the reluctant teen down beside her.

Usagi lays her head in her Aunt's lap still grumbling about the events that had taken place. It isn't long before the stubborn girl falls into an exhausted sleep with Hotaru stroking her fingers through the fine platinum hair.

Hotaru shakes her head as she looks down at the slumbering blonde. 'What am I going to do with you?' she muses to herself as she works on some of her homework continuing to use her other hand to stroke her fingers through the girl's short locks.

* * *

><p>Makoto spins Rei around, pushes the dark hair girl hard by her shoulders against the wall behind her and holds her there. She stares at her with rapidly narrowing eyes, her breath coming out in pants from having to drag the girl over to the wall.<p>

"What the hell is wrong with you? Why are you being so mean to Ren? What has he done to you that you have to repeatedly insult badger and bludgeon him with anything you have in your hand?" Makoto asks as she lets go of Rei's shoulders and places her hands on her hips.

"I don't know what the hell my problem is, Mako. He just rubs me the wrong way! Besides we've had this conversation already!" Rei exclaims with her arms crossed over her chest.

Turning her head away from the other two girls' intense stares not being able to meet them head on, she bites her bottom lip as thoughts and feelings runs a gambit through her head at a rapid pace. She lets out a soft sigh as once again her mind comes up empty with why she is treating the blond boy in such a manner.

"Look, Rei, with any other guy, I'd find it funny, but I've known Ren since we were in our early years of school. He's not that bad at all. He's a decent guy!" Makoto exclaims throwing her hands up into the air.

"Decent? You're calling that, that boy, decent? He's always calling me a damn Banshee. How decent can that be?" Rei asks; whipping her head back to glare at Makoto and sputters in anger at the thought that her friend would defend that stupid boy to her.

"Well maybe if you weren't constantly yelling at him and beating him to a pulp then maybe, just maybe, he wouldn't be calling you a banshee," Minako reasons with a shrug of her shoulders.

Rei lets out a sigh, her fingers creeping up to her temples and begins to massage them. 'It just isn't fair. My two best friends are defending the pervert right in front of me! Aren't they supposed to be on my side? Well then again Makoto has known Ren longer and Minako is just agreeing because I'll bet she just wants a date with that baka.' She muses to herself as another sigh escapes her lips and she nods her head slightly.

"Alright, I'll try to be more civil from him, I promise, this time," Rei states with a forced smile making the other two raise an eyebrow at her for a moment.

Makoto and Minako look at one another then back at Rei. With bright smiles on their faces the all lean in and hug one another.

Makoto lets out a soft sigh at the unsteady truce that has been forged by Rei, but chuckles softly under her breath at the absurdness of the whole situation.

'It's like they are married or something,' Makoto muses, throwing a quick glance over to Rei who is smiling brightly and laughing at something Minako says. Makoto shakes her head a fraction of an inch. 'Maybe there's something between them that even they don't know yet,' eyes grow wide at the thought. 'No way will Rei ever fall for a guy. That's absurd.'

The three girls make their way back to the spot where they had left Hotaru and Usagi only to find that Usagi had fallen asleep with her head in Hotaru's lap. Hotaru looks up from her homework and places a finger against her lips with her free hand still running through the other girl's hair.

With a smile upon their faces and a nod of their heads the two girls take a seat on either side of Hotaru. They start up a hushed conversation with Hotaru neither one of them noticing that Rei had hung back from the other two. She stands a couple paces away watching as the Sakura petals the tree above them fall onto the platinum blonde bangs. Transfixed to the places where the petals fall her eyes flick from the boy laying on the ground to his uncle, she, for one brief moment, wonders what it would feel like to be in Hotaru's place.

A slow smile creases her face, but the smile turns into a frown as she scolds herself mentally, 'the boy is nothing but a pervert that probably has mistresses everywhere. Don't get soft now. He's just like all the others you have known.' Reminded of the boy's perverted nature she walks back over to the others with a forced smile upon her face.

She sits down to talk to her friends and continues to keep the forced smile so not to alert the other girls to her thoughts. She mentally slaps herself when she catches herself every so often looking in the boy's direction and she feels her face soften a bit when she looks upon the blondes' serene face.

'Stop it, he wouldn't care anyway!' She berates herself and continues with the conversation at hand, none of the other girls aware of the battle going on within her psyche.

They continue to talk till the bell rings to signal the end of lunch period. Rei scrambles up off the ground stating that she has forgotten a book for her next class. The other's nod at Rei and don't notice as the black haired girl dashes away from the little group.

* * *

><p>Blood shot eyes looks over towards an alarm clock that's over on the bed stand and lets out a little gasp; when glaring back at the eyes in large red numbers stating that it's three in the morning.<p>

'Why does this always happen to me?'She questions herself as she looks towards her companion who has a contemplative look upon her face.

"Come on, here up, Nanami. I got to get to bed. I have school in the morning you know!" Usa whispers hoarsely; with blinking eyes to keep them from dropping shut.

"I can't hurry up, Usa. This is a delicate nature, that must be handled slow precise movements," Nanami states with a sultry smile upon her face, her eyes blazing with fire.

It's quiet in the mansion. Everyone had gone to bed for the night hours ago. The only sound that could be heard is the creaking of the foundation. The lull of the night is suddenly broken when echoes down the halls is a high pitched squeal that could wake the dead. Some mumble in their sleep and others turn over placing their pillows over their heads to keep the squeal down to a low roar.

"Yesssssss, Yes, YES!" Nanami squeals, vibrating the walls in the room, making the pictures upon said wall rattle precariously almost falling off of it.

"Now, it's your turn!" Nanami states leaning back panting out of breath, as she reaches for a large bottle of liquid that's next to her and guzzles it down.

Usa lets out a groan as she runs a hand over her tired eyes. She leans her head to the side, picks up the dice and tosses them onto the table. A couple more rolls she counts them up and writes down the score before handing the dice over to Nanami.

Nanami plucks the dice from her niece's hand with a large smile on her face and tosses them onto the table after rolling them around in her hand. Her smile turns into a devilish grin which makes Usa swallow hard, that sounds loud to her ears in the quiet room. Nanami rolls what's left of the dice in her hand before casually tossing them back upon the table once more.

Nanami stares at the dice as they roll noisily across the table as they stop the older woman jumps from her seat and lets out a shout pumping her fist in the air. She points at the barely awake Usagi with an evil upon her gorgeous face.

"YAHTZEE! That's another fifty points for me. I win, now it's time to pay up, Usa!" Nanami exclaims as she sits back down on the floor across from Usagi and pulls a knapsack over to her.

Usagi lets out a groan and almost falls forward when she sees her Aunt pull out a large pack of multicolored markers. 'Why is it always me?' she questions once again as her Aunt stalks over to her with a devilish smile upon her face once more.

* * *

><p>Hotaru walks into Usagi's room the next morning with Haruka hot on her heels. The young girl had missed her work out session and the two girls were there to find out why. When they open the door they see bottles scattered everywhere, some multicolored markers sitting upon a small table in the middle of the room and a snoring mass under the table. The mass is an exhausted Usagi dressed in only a pair of boxers and a specially made bra that is designed to bind her breasts comfortably.<p>

They inspect the passed out girl, only to find glasses drawn around the girl's eyes, a weird looking dragon on her stomach and the words I WIN scrawled on the girl's forehead. Upon further inspection they find several other different pictures all over the girl's body, with some of them looking like they had been done in permanent marker.

The sisters look at each other and shake their heads. They begin to pick up the room both lost in their own thoughts, occasionally looking over towards the still past out Usagi when the blondes snores reach their ears over the noise of cleaning up the room.

After they are finished with the room, Hotaru nudges the girl with her foot to see if she will awaken. She nods towards Haruka, who walks over to the girl with a finger stuck in her mouth; she leans down towards the girl only to unceremoniously stick the wet appendage into her sleeping nieces.

"WET WILLY!" Haruka cries as she wiggles said finger in the sleeping girl's ear making odd squishing noises as she chuckles ruthlessly.

Usagi lets out a gasp her eyes growing wide. She tries to escape the wet appendage only to smack her forehead on the bottom edge of the table in her effort to get away. She falls back and groans at the throbbing pain that spreads from the spot she had hit.

"No more, Yahtzee, Please! No more!" Usagi mutters; covering her face with her hands that leave the other two shaking their heads in mirth and sympathy.

"We've really have got to talk to our sister about these late night Yahtzee sessions," Haruka states with a sigh as she helps the exhausted girl towards the bathroom.

"Yeah, I have to agree with you on that one, Ruka," Hotaru states; from inside the closet emerging with Usagi's school uniform in her hands.

"Come on, sleeping beauty, you got to get ready for school," Haruka states; shoving the girl into the bathroom, tossing her uniform to the still groggy Usagi and leaves her to her shower.

* * *

><p>Thankfully the day had been quieter than usual for Usagi. She didn't have to do the usual running away from the boys. It would appear that they were taking a break or it could be that they didn't know what to do since Mamoru wasn't in school today. Either way it gave Usagi time to recoup from the late night activities that her Aunt put her through the night before. In class Usagi has her head down on the desk, but she felt like someone was watching her. She didn't give it much thought since the day had been quiet for her. Without another thought as to who was watching her, she lets her eyes close and falls off into another light doze, knowing that if the teacher asked her a question Hotaru would poke her awake to answer it.<p>

Rei sits behind Usagi with her chin in her hand while she watches the stupid idiotic boy sitting in front of her sleep through class. Despite knowing that Nanami is Ren's Aunt, she can't help but wonder what they could be doing that would make the stupid boy so tired that he could barely keep himself from being comatose throughout the class period. A thought comes to her mind and a large red blush colors her cheeks when she thinks of the one thing it could be.

'Stupid, incestuous, pervert,' Rei thinks; shifting her eyes away from the sleeping moron so that she can concentrate on what the nauseatingly boring teacher is talking about up at the front of the class room.  
>Sometime later after school Haruka and Usagi are standing next to the older woman's convertible waiting for Hotaru and Michiru to get out of the store that they stopped at on their way to the airport.<p>

"So this is great news, isn't it?" Haruka asks trying to make conversation with Usagi while waiting for the two girls to get out of the store.

"I suppose so. It's better than one of the other relatives coming to live with us, but that's obvious," Usagi states looking at her nails making a mental note to trim them before she goes back to school tomorrow. "I really can't remember if Ojiisan said anything about us or not."

"No, he didn't. What I have gathered from everything is that his sister's eldest daughter is coming to stay with us along with her niece. Seems the niece's mother ran off leaving her with the eldest daughter. Her company recently went belly up and she didn't know what else to do so she came to Dad for help. It won't be so bad. I mean, at least there isn't any bad blood between Dad and his sister like there is with the rest of the family," Haruka explains with a wide grin on her face. "It could even be fun."

Usagi chuckles and opens her mouth to say something, only to be interrupted when the two girls come out of the store with arms loaded with snacks and soda. Haruka smiles at Michiru with a slight wink of an eye. She opens the door to the car to allow the two girls to climb into the back seat and gets into the car herself.

"Do you really think that we need that much stuff?" Usagi asks Hotaru once they are settled in the back seat.

Hotaru shrugs her shoulders and chuckles. "Hey, they might be hungry. Plane food doesn't leave much to be desired as you might remember," Hotaru states as Usagi nods her head letting out a chuckle of her own.

"That's true. I had forgotten about the food on the planes. It does tend to be a bit nasty," Usagi states with a thoughtful look on her face.

The two girls look at one another and let out a loud laugh at the thought of the nasty plane food that their two relatives must have had to endure on the plane. With a squeal of the tires, which cause the two teens to hang onto the back of the front seats for dear life, they head off towards the airport and the new occupants of the mansion.

* * *

><p>Meioh Ami sits in the plane seat fidgeting around while waiting for the plan to land. The young bluenette, with pale brown eyes and a slim figure looks around the plane at everyone sitting around her minding their own business. She lets out a sigh wondering what this move would bring her and her Aunt.<p>

Her mother had left her with her Aunt Setsuna and now they were flying towards an unknown Aunt and Uncle that neither of them had met before. She knew that she had family somewhere, but her mother never talked about them, since in all reality she hadn't even met her estranged Uncle before herself.

She looks over when she feels a hand on her arm to settle her down and look into the garnet eyes of her Aunt sitting beside her who smiles at her kindly.

"Don't worry, Ami. They are gonna love you. Mom always said that her brother was a good man and I'll trust her judgment," Setsuna states with a large, but forced smile on her face.

"Why didn't you ever meet your uncle before now, Sets?" Ami questions as she tilts her head to the side to regard Setsuna with a curious look on her face.

"Mom just never took us to see my uncle. She said something about him having enough issues with the rest of her brothers and sisters to not be a burden upon him. She used to tell us stories about their childhood together. He was always her favorite brother even if he was a bit odd, but that's why she liked him so much. Being the youngest child of the family people dotted on her and the rest of the siblings resented her for it, but never her brother. Then when he took over for the family they resented him and while she knew that it would hurt him, she just couldn't bring herself to go to him for anything," Setsuna explains before patting the girls arm and pulls it back to rest in her lap.

"Until now that is," Ami states having picked up on the unspoken situation that they were in. "I remember Great-Aunt June once talking about him. She made him sound like the devil incarnate if you actually take what she says to heart. Though I don't think he could be that bad if he's willing to allow us to live there, right?" Ami asks with a small smile to try and cover up her nervousness.

"Well, little one, you have a point there. Besides, from what Uncle said there's a couple kids your age to hang out with. So that will be good for you," Setsuna states with a smile before nudging the girl beside her. "Maybe they can help pull you out of that shell that you've embraced around yourself, hmm?"

Ami blushes a bit before shaking her head. "I don't know about that, Aunt Sets. Though maybe they can help me make a better start then when we were in England. It can't hurt," she states while looking down into her lap, wringing her hands together.

"That's the spirit. You just think that way and you'll have loads of friends beating down the door to hang out with you in no time," Setsuna states; reaching over to hug the girl close to her.

"Yeah and maybe you can find that person you keep dreaming about," Ami states with a sly smirk on her face.

"Oh, could be," Setsuna states; turns her head away from the girl sitting next to her to try and hide the blush that had crossed over her face.

Once she's sure that her face is no longer red, she looks over at her niece and lets out a sigh. This was a side that only she was allowed to see. The girl was bright, funny and could pull pranks with the best of them, but she kept herself locked up in her own world where no one else was allowed to tread except for her and her good for nothing mother, but she was sure that this change would be good for her and her mother had assured her that Ami being around the two youngest boys would be the cure for it, because they were very spirited lads that enjoy playing pranks just as much as Ami did.

'Yeah, this is just what, Ami needs, change,' Setsuna thinks to herself leaning over to place a small kiss on her niece's cheek.

The young girl turns towards her Aunt and smiles brightly at her only to turn forward once again with the nervousness back upon her face when the pilot announces that they'll be landing at the airport within ten minutes.

* * *

><p>The four girls walk through the airport towards the gate that they were told that the plane from England would be unloading at. While they walk through the terminal, groups of girls swoon at the site of Haruka, Usagi and Hotaru while the boys point and whisper about Michiru whose arm is currently linked through Haruka's.<p>

Haruka smirks and winks at the girls making them swoon even more much to Usagi's chagrin making the young blond to unconsciously roll her eyes at Ruka's ham act. She looks over to Hotaru to say something only for her mouth to drop open agape when she notices that Hotaru is doing the same thing.

Usagi likes girls just like her two Aunts, but at the same time she doesn't want to call attention to herself like her two Aunts do. She smirks to herself when she notices Michiru smacking Haruka upside the head for flirting with a bunch of girls that are younger than her, only to roll her eyes again when she hears Haruka whine about Hotaru being able to do the same thing so why couldn't she?

Usagi face palms at Haruka's whining and Hotaru begins to laugh at her sister's predicament that is until Michiru looks back at the two girls. The older woman glares at them, but gives them a ghost of a wink and a slight smile before turning back around to continue on with her fiancé.

Hotaru looks at Usagi and they begin to laugh loudly at the moping Haruka in front of them. Usagi howls loudly about Haruka finally being put into her place with whips and chains which causes Hotaru to laugh even harder than before.

Shaking her head, Haruka begins to wonder if school hasn't finally made her younger family members lose their minds from all the stress they are put through. She leans over to kiss Michiru's cheek when she hears a young man make a comment about what her fiancé is wearing.

After the two girls finally calm down, Usagi suggests that they get going so that they don't leave their guests waiting at the terminal wondering where they are. Listening to the voice of reason the three girls nod their heads before continuing their trek towards the gate with a Michiru following behind them shaking her head at the family in front of her.

Upon arriving at the gate they notice a blue haired girl and a dark haired woman with green streaks in her hair waiting for them at the front of the gate, looking around as if either lost or waiting for someone.

Haruka looks at the pictures she's been caring and informs the trio that it's the family members they are looking for. Usagi looks over again at the duo only to raise an eyebrow at the color combination in the taller woman's hair and wonders if it's natural or a dye job. Shrugging her shoulders at the thought, she walks over with Hotaru.

"Hello there, I'm Tsukino Ren; beside me is Hotaru. It's a pleasure to meet you," Usagi states; bowing before the two girls in front of them.

Setsuna smiles at the platinum blonde haired boy in front of her and bows back. "I'm Meioh Setsuna and this is my niece Meioh Ami. Thank you very much, for picking us up."

Usagi smiles at the duo and nods her head quietly. They walk over to Haruka and Michiru who introduce themselves and bow before their guests who bow back towards the polite couple.

"Have you been waiting long?" Haruka questions as they walk towards the luggage claim area.

"No, we just arrived. I think we waited maybe only a couple of minutes before you arrived," Setsuna states as her eyes scan the carousal for their luggage.

When it finally arrives Setsuna makes a move to claim it, but is stopped when the three boys standing beside her ask her to just point out which ones are theirs. She points to the four bags that roll down the conveyor belt towards them only to have the boys lift them up from the carousal and sling them over their shoulders while they continue on with the conversation at hand which consists of barbs about Haruka and some girls from before.

Setsuna raises an eyebrow at this and wonders how they could be so courteous towards other people yet so rambunctious with one another. She shrugs her shoulders and follows the rowdy boys through the airport with Michiru beside her. She smiles at the other woman and begins so small talk and finds an instant friend with the quiet woman who has the same interests as herself.

Ami follows behind them her nervousness twisting her stomach into knots at meeting the new members of her family. She's in awe of the three boys walking in front of her, though. The air they give off is of such a quiet strength that she hopes that by being around them that strength will somehow be transferred to her in some way so that she will have that sort of strength someday.

* * *

><p>Arriving at Haruka's car they put the luggage into the trunk then stand around trying to figure out seating arrangements with Hotaru or Usagi making comments about Haruka not thinking about what to do once they had two more passengers.<p>

Michiru stands off to the side quietly laughing behind a hand while watching her fiancé try to figure out what to do as she defends herself against her niece and sister. The quiet woman smiles slightly to herself even though it's going to be cramped she enjoys seeing the two girls banter with Haruka without having to be so reserved as they normally are.

Haruka finally concedes to the two young girls and admits that she didn't think things through before it's decided that Ami is going to have to sit upon her Aunts lap on the trip back to the mansion. Usagi had offered her lap to the young girl saying that it wasn't any trouble, but the girl just blushes a deep red and mumbles out a no.

Setsuna bites back a laugh at her niece's predicament when Hotaru gives her a look and starts to tease the girl with a smile upon her face which only makes the shy girl blush even more at the Hotaru's words.

After the playing they get settled into the car with Ami upon Setsuna's lap as prearranged and Haruka whips out of the parking lot in order to make the uncomfortable ordeal more bearable by getting to the mansion as fast as possible even though faster doesn't always mean better.

Ami hangs onto her Aunt for dear life while Haruka races down the streets towards the place that she will be calling home from now on. As she hangs on she wonders if she would be flying out of the car around one corner due to Haruka's excessive speed, but knows that her Aunt wouldn't let anything to happen to them.

With the cramped space and the wind blowing towards them, they didn't have any chance to talk on the way back to the mansion, so the car is quiet; each of its occupants lost within their own thoughts the entire way home.

The dangerous ride finally comes to an end when they arrive back at the mansion. Usagi stumbles out of the car with Hotaru right beside her. They both fall to their knees screaming about being back on land and thanking Kami that they were alive while Setsuna stands off to the side laughing with a shell shocked Ami swaying beside her.

Haruka looks at the two girls mock kissing the ground with a scowl upon her face before turning to Michiru to ask her if she was the devil when it comes to driving as the girls on the ground were currently yelling. Michiru lets out a laugh pulling her fiancé towards her to bandage the woman's bruised ego by saying her driving is just fine and gives her a kiss to reassure her.

Servants rush towards the car with Hotaru and Usagi still moaning on the ground about seeing their lives flash before their eyes. The maids give the two girls amused looks before they start to unload the trunk of the luggage that's tucked safely inside of it.

After sometime on the ground Haruka finally barks out to Usagi and Hotaru to get up or she was going to kick their asses and makes her way towards the mansion with a scowl still upon her face. The two girls look up and laugh before following Haruka into the house with Ami, Setsuna and Michiru following them.

"Good evening, Master Tsukino has asked for me to escort you to the foyer. He would like to talk to the two of you before you get settled in. Once you are done just ask one of the maids where your rooms are and they'll take you to them. Now if you'll follow me, please," the maid states; bowing once again and leads the two girls away from the other girls who look towards one another.

"What's that all about?" They ask together only to start laughing at their in stereo questioning.

They shrug their shoulders and turn towards the other foyer after coming to a decision to play some cards while they wait for their house mates to come back from whatever meeting the patriarch had in store for them. Haruka grabs the cards from shelf off to the side of the room and they each take a seat around the low table in the middle of some chairs.

"What do you suppose that was all about?" Hotaru questions as she deals out the cards to her sister, sister in law and niece.

"No, idea, but I'm sure we can find out later," Haruka states with a shrug of her shoulders as she arranges her cards in her hand.

"Yeah, who knows, maybe they'll tell us," Usagi states; leaning back into the couch and closes her eyes since she declined the invitation to play cards with her family.

"Or maybe you can go find out for yourself," a familiar voice states from the doorway and everyone turns their head to see Nanami standing there.

"I don't think that's such a good idea, Nanami," Usagi states from where she is sitting, her eyes growing wide when Nanami claps her hands together with a gleeful look on her face.

"Oh good, you are awake! That means I can get a game of Yahtzee in before I leave for my party," Nanami states excitedly only to frown when Usagi flops back on the couch and proceeds to snore quietly.

"Well, I guess that's out," Nanami states with a shake of her head and walks out of the room.

Hotaru and Haruka begin to laugh boisterously while Michiru raises an eyebrow at Nanami. She wonders how the woman could be fooled so easily only to begin to feel a headache come on when she tries to wrap her mind around it. On the couch Usagi laughs quietly her shoulders shaking slightly in her mirth.

* * *

><p>Usagi lays on her bed thinking about the problems that arose throughout the week like the dawn of a new day. Not only did she have Mamoru dogging her every step, but a lot more of the boy population at school as well. The rumor mill was going rampant with Usagi's incident with her Aunt Nanami, throwing herself at "Ren-San" and that was the tamest of the rumors circulation around. The girls had heard the rumors as well, which made them amp up their attempts at making Usagi notice them. One of them went as far as throwing her bra at the blonde's head as she walked by.<p>

Usagi groans and thumps her head onto the bed proceeding to slam a pillow over her face and screams into it. Mamoru and his gang had been more ruthless then before. All week long they pursued her from the beginning of the day to the end. By the end of the week she was ready to collapse into a heap of exhaustion and sleep for weeks.

A soft tap on her door brings the girls head out from under her pillow and glares at the door in abject hatred. She briefly wonders if she can simply just will the person, on the other side of the door, to spontaneously combust by using just her mind.

Another knock this time a bit louder sounds from the door once again accompanied with a voice. "Usa, are you in there?" The muffled voice questions from behind the closed door.

She groans and puts the pillow back over her head when she recognizes the voice calling out to her. Usagi lets out a long, suffering sigh knowing that the person will continue to knock until she relents later. Better to get it done and over with in her mind.

"It's open!" She cries out from under the pillow when the knock sounds out again from her door.

"Hey, how was your day? You flew by when you came home that I didn't get the chance to ask you," Haruka states; sitting down gingerly on the side of the bed and gives Usa the once over, noticing the new bruises, cuts and some bandages on her face. "Who did this?"

"Who do you think?" Usagi questions; turning onto her side with a grimace. "Mamoru and his cronies were out in greater numbers today than they had been for the entire week. Seems as the week progressed more and more boys found out about Nanami coming by on Monday and the rumor mill kept growing the entire week it ranged from her throwing herself at me to us doing it right there in the court yard."

"That's insane! Why doesn't anyone do anything about it?" Haruka asks; pushing Usagi over onto her back and lifts up her shirt to see a multitude of bruises around her stomach and sides.

"I don't know. That's a question that I ask myself every day. Hey, what's that?" Usa nods towards the envelope that is not resting at Haruka's side.

"Oh, Luna gave it to me, it's a letter from Hotaru," Haruka states and the two girls share a grimace.

With a sigh Usagi pulls her shirt down and rolls off the bed onto the floor. She rubs the back of her neck not looking forward to what they are going to have to do next.

"Well, I guess we had better give it to her. I think she went out with Makoto and the girls after school. Hotaru said that girls were talking about wanting to go to the new arcade that opened up in town or something like that. I'm not really sure. I wasn't paying too much attention because I was too busy running away from the wannabe angry mob with their torches and pitch forks," Usa responds with a roll of her eyes before she goes over to her dresser to change out of her school uniform.

Haruka stands up and puts her hands behind her head while she watches her niece rummage through her drawers. "Umm, Usa, how are we supposed to find them if you aren't sure where they are and why aren't you with them anyway? Usually you're all for hanging out with Makoto. What's up with that? She hasn't even been here once since you mentioned that she was here."

"Why do you think I'm not with them, Ruka? That damn banshee goes with them everywhere and she tries to kill me all the time. So of course I'm not gonna hang around them," Usa states with a roll of her eyes and scoffs as she tosses some cloths on top of the dresser to wear.

"Did you ever think that maybe the reason that you two don't get along is because you like one another," Haruka questions with mirth dancing in her eyes as she leans against the wall staring at Usa.

Usagi stops rummaging through her and turns around to stare at Haruka. "You have got to be kidding, Haruka! The girl is a maniac! Now get out of my room so I can change," she says with her eyebrow twitching at a laughing Haruka only to push the sandy haired woman out of the room.

Haruka continues to chuckle as she leans against the wall next to Usagi's door waiting for the girl to finish changing. When she emerges Haruka raises an eyebrow at the cloths that she's wearing.

"You're going to go dressed like that? Are you trying to show off for someone?" She questions teasingly.

Usagi looks down at the cloths which consist of baggy olive green cargo pants, black and red skate shoes, a large dark and light blue t-shirt that has a surf board with a dragon on it and a white shell necklace.

"What? How exactly are the cloths I'm wearing show offy? Now, let's get going before I change my mind!" she exclaims; following Haruka down the stairs and out of the house.

"You want me to drive or should we walk?" Haruka asks once she's stopped by her car.

"Let's walk. That way, if we spot her we don't have to find a parking spot," Usagi suggests; as Haruka nods and grabs her sunglasses out of the car.

They head off towards town thinking the same thing. Who keeps writing those letters to Hotaru all the time?

* * *

><p>Hotaru leans back in her chair laughing softly while she watches Rei and Minako go up against each other in a dancing game that was turning more into a pushing match than anything else.<p>

Makoto smiles and laughs along with them before turning towards Hotaru. "It was great that you could come with us, Hotaru. I just wish that Usa could've come with us," she states quietly so that no one can hear her before taking a sip of her soda sitting in front of her.

Hotaru groans under her breath when thinking about the conversation that she had with Usa before she had run off and shakes her head. "Yeah, well you know how Usa is. Though I have to admit, her mannerisms right now are a bit strange when she's around Rei-Chan," Hotaru states with a thoughtful look on her face.

"Ahh, so you've noticed that too, huh? Minako and I can't figure out what her problem is. She's not usually like this at all. There's something weird going on between those two isn't there?" Makoto questions with a thoughtful expression on her face as she folds her hands over her glass and leans towards Hotaru with a raised eyebrow.

She's about to respond when she notices that Rei and Minako are done playing are now walking over to them arguing about the game.

"I still think that you cheated somehow!" Minako exclaims with a huff as she sits down in her chair.

"How could I be the one cheating when you were the one pushing and pulling me around onto of the console?" Rei asks with her eyebrow raised; looking at Minako as if she's lost her mind.

"That's exactly what I mean. You shouldn't have won because I was pushing you around so that you wouldn't and yet you still did. So that's got to mean you were cheating," Minako states as the others roll their eyes at the blondes misguided sort of logic.

"Right, if you say so, Minako," Rei states; she turns her head when she hears the door to the arcade open only to roll her eyes when she sees her mom and sister standing on the other side of the door. "Well my day just turned into a nightmare. My mom's here with my little sister."

The dark haired teen slumps in her chair and buries her head into her crossed arms on the table. She looks up when she feels someone touch her arm. She lets out a groan when she notices that her mom is standing right beside her with an apologetic look upon the older woman's face.

"There you are dear. Look I know that it's your day to hang with your friends, but something came up at the office that I can't get out of. So do you think that you can watch your sister for a while?" The older looking Rei asks with a large smile on her face and batting her eye lashes at the giggling teen.

"Hehehe. Okay, mom, but for the love of Kami stop with the sickly sweet smile and the eyelash batting. It's killing me, please!" Rei exclaims just as she covers her face so she doesn't have to see her mom's expression any longer.

"Oh, thank you dear. I'll make it up to you," she states in a soft voice; leaning over to kiss Rei's head and walks with a wave of her hand.

"Hey, Himiko how was your day at school?" Rei questions; scooting her chair back and lifts her younger sister onto her lap.

The younger girl giggles loudly as Rei tickles her sides and smiles up at her older sister with a large smile on her face.

"Neesan, I'm ten years old. I don't need to sit on your lap anymore," Himiko states with a slight slap to Rei's shoulder.

"Well, there's nowhere else to sit and I don't want you standing there waiting for us to leave," Rei reasons with another tickle attack to the younger girls sides once more.

"So, Taru-san, I'm glad that you decided to come with us. We were starting to think that you didn't want to hang out with us," Rei states with a grin upon her face that's mirrored by her friends who look at the quiet young man sitting with them.

"Oh, yeah, I was just talking to Makoto-Chan, about that. It wasn't that I didn't want to come along with you; it's just that I've been busy. I really am glad that I came with you. I've been having a lot of fun," Hotaru smiles at everyone at the table. "And please just call me, Taru, we're all friends here."

"Only if you do the same thing," Rei states; with a smile towards Taru who blushes slightly.

"Same goes for us, Taru," Minako agrees; with a dreamy look on her face as she watches the boy beside her then she raises an eyebrow when her cell phone rings.

She looks at the caller id then excuses herself before she gets up from the table and walks away from the group to answer the call. The other occupants of the table casually sipped their milkshakes or sodas waiting for the blonde haired girl to come back.

After a few moments she comes back over to the table and sits down with a forced smile upon her face as the others look at her eyebrows raised.

"That was my father, he said that he might be coming home late tonight, so I can either order out tonight or go stay at a friend's house since it's Friday," Minako states with a slight dejected look on her face.

"Did he say what was keeping him at the office for so long," Rei asks; sipping her milkshake with a look of sympathy on her face.

"Not really, he just said that it was very important and that he had to take care of it before Monday and it couldn't wait any longer," Minako sighs; putting her chin in the palm of her hand.

Hotaru looks over at the dejected looking blonde and realizes that she had worn that look many times over the years when her father couldn't come home for something, but she keeps silent about it.

Makoto looks over at Hotaru and notices the sympathetic look on her young friends face. She leans over towards Hotaru to explain the situation.

"Minako works for your dad's company just like mine dad and Rei's mom and dad. His work keeps him there late because he's in sales and development so he ends up staying late. That's probably why Rei's mom dropped off Himiko here with us."

"Oh, I see," Hotaru nods her head in understanding. She doesn't ask about Minako's mother though.

She wasn't sure where Minako's mother was, but didn't want to ask either. She was afraid that by approaching the subject it would bring up questions about her own family and she didn't know how to answer them without giving up to many details that would put her niece's identity in jeopardy. Plus, she didn't feel like talking about her own mother's death which was still a sore subject for the young teen.

'Besides she probably did have a mother and didn't have to worry about living a life that wasn't entirely her own,' Hotaru thinks that leaves a bitter taste in her mouth causing her to take another sip of her soda.

Minako must be psychic or she caught the expression upon her face because she turned towards Hotaru with a smile on her face and begins to explain.

"My parents are divorce that's partly way we're here. Dad felt that it would be best if we just moved away. I'm originally from England, but then dad moved us to where I met Makoto and Rei. Rei's parents and Makoto's dad ended up having to transfer here to help the sales department since they are on the same team with my father. They're a good team and the company didn't want to split them up. Anyway, I go see mom in the summer plus over the holidays and she said that this year she'd come to Tokyo to visit, so it's not that bad."

Hotaru just nods her head and takes another sip of her soda, digestion the information that Minako had told her. A while ago it had become a rule of hers to never pry into other peoples personal lives. Only to save herself from the sympathy and pity that she was sure she would get for having such a messed up life of her own. Those two emotions were something she didn't need nor wanted from people that barely knew her.

"So, Taru, what's your family like?" Rei asks which causes Hotaru to mentally slap herself on the forehead and almost choke on her soda.

'I swear that Minako and Rei are psychic. That's just too coincidental,' Hotaru muses to her-self as she tries to regain her composure.

She knew that she had to answer the question due to her upbringing and the manners that were instilled upon her since she could talk, but it's hard to explain to other people not in her family what they are truly like. She knew it would be extremely rude to Rei to say that it was none of her business, but how was she supposed to answer that specific question?

"Taru, is everything okay?" Rei questions in a concern voice and reaches over to Hotaru to place a hand on her shoulder with a thoughtful expression on her face.

"Oh, I'm sorry, I was just thinking. My family is regular, I suppose. There isn't much to say about them. My father owns a father large business as you know. It takes up a lot of his free time so I can understand where Minako is coming from. Family is always stopping over to visit and we have a great time," she states with a forced grin that makes Makoto raise an eyebrow.

'That just isn't what her family is really like, but I guess it would be weird to tell them that her father makes her, Haruka and Usagi dress, act and practically be boys. Yeah, that would go over like a lead balloon,' Makoto thinks leaning running a hand through her hair as the thought of Hotaru's family gives her a slight headache.

"Oh yeah, that sounds a bit like my family. They are always stopping over to visit with either mom or dad. My father always takes Himiko's side in everything. Doesn't he, Himiko?" She asks her younger sister before tickling her, making her giggle and the others laugh around the table.

Makoto looks over at Hotaru who forces out a laugh and shakes her head sadly.

'Yep, there is defiantly something going on. Kami, those two girls have got to be so lonely,' Makoto thinks again before joining in on the conversation with her friends.

* * *

><p>Usagi lets out a sigh for the hundredth time since they started to walk towards town. She turns her head towards Haruka who is currently walking beside her with a slight frown on her face. She grumbles under her breath while they look for the arcade that Hotaru had mentioned to Usagi earlier in the day.<p>

"Where the hell is she? We've been to every friggin arcade that we could find and yet no Hotaru."

"Hey, Usa, let's stop and get something to drink, huh? We've been walking for an hour and I don't know about you, but I could use a drink," Haruka explains; steering the other girl over towards an outdoor café.

Usagi lets out another sigh with a nod of her head she follows Haruka to the café that she had pointed out.

"And don't get so bent out of shape. We'll find them and then you can make googly eyes at Rei all you want," Haruka chuckles looking at Usagi with an evil smirk on her face.

Usagi's face goes an interesting red as her eyebrow starts to twitch. Very slowly she turns her head towards her Aunt who's still got an evil smirk upon her face much to the blonde's chagrin.

"I don't like that Banshee!" She screams at the still smirking woman with a shake of her fist as she tries to not jump over the table at the blonde woman.

Haruka starts to laugh loudly which makes Usagi raise an eyebrow than slowly turns her head taking a look around at the people looking at her with expressions ranging from angry to amusement.

Usagi slinks down into her chair thinking that it would be a good time for ground to open up and swallow her whole right at this particular moment.

"Kill me," Usagi mutters much to the amusement of her aunt who starts to laugh once more.

Hotaru and her friends crossed over to another street while chatting away about school and some teachers. Hotaru lets a smile cross her face as she watches the three girls carrying on. For the longest time, she didn't allow herself to make friends and her only companions were Usagi and Haruka, but now she mused that it was actually fun to hang out with other people besides her own family. She knew that she couldn't allow her guard to drop or her identity could become compromised, but she did allow herself to have some fun and relax a little bit.

"So, do you want to come?" Rei asks which makes Hotaru blink in confusion.

"I'm sorry, what was that? I was thinking," Hotaru explains with a slight blush upon her face.

"Well, my family is sort of throwing a party tomorrow night and I know that it's short notice and all, but I thought you'd like to come with us, maybe spend the day as well. Go out have dinner then come to the party. It's nothing formal so you don't have to dress any differently then you usually do. So can you come?" Rei asked in a hopeful tone as she looks at Hotaru with doe eyes.

Hotaru's eyes widen at the sight before her and she nods her head slightly a small smile coming to her face. 'What was that about not letting my guard down?' She asks herself with a shake of her head.

"Hey, Usa, you want to share a piece of chocolate cake?" A voice asks from somewhere off to her left side.

"Umm, I don't think that's a good idea. After all, didn't you get smacked by Michiru last time you ate before dinner?" A very familiar voice filters towards Rei.

Rei turns her head and notices a familiar platinum blonde haired boy sitting at a café table with a taller blonde haired boy in front of him.

Makoto looks up and smiles as she points over towards where Haruka and Usagi sit. "Hey, isn't that Haruka-san and Ren-san over there?"

Hotaru lets out a sigh of relief before waving over towards her sister and her niece.

"Hey, there's Taru and some girls. Hey, Taru, there you are!" Haruka shouts in greeting and gets up from the table to walk over towards where Hotaru and the other girls are standing. Haruka puts her arm around Hotaru's shoulders and smiles down at the shorter girl. She waves a hand towards the other girls who greet Haruka with a smile.

Usagi rolls her eyes and slowly gets up from her seat. She strolls over to the girls casually with her hands stuffed into her pockets. She smiles at Hotaru before waving a hand at the other girls.

Rei glares at the platinum haired boy, her mood instantly dropping from being happy to angry the instant she saw him coming over towards them.

"So, hey, do you mind if we tag along?" Usagi asks when she turns towards Makoto feeling the slight negative energy directed at her from the raven haired girl standing not too far away from her.

"No"

"No"

"YES"

"No"

Minako and Makoto turn to glare at their friend while Rei looks down at her sister beside her with her mouth agape than glares at the younger girl for her insubordination only to have the young girl shrug her shoulders slightly.

"What? I think he's cool looking," she states to her sister who grows fangs and is about to yell at her sister for saying that the stupid boy standing beside them is cool.

However, just before she can utter a peep, Makoto swoops in and puts a hand over the other girl's mouth to keep the girl from going off on a tangent about the blonde haired boy. She smiles widely at Usagi and Haruka who have their eyebrows raised with questioning looks upon their faces.

"We'd love it if you two join us. We're just out for a walk. So come on," she invites them with a warning glare at Rei just before she takes her hand away from the dark haired girls mouth.

"Fine, fine, I can live with him coming with us," she states in a huff crossing her arms over her chest.

The teens let out a sigh of relief that the explosion of their volatile friend had been avoided and a verbal argument hadn't broken out in the streets between the two hot heads. They start on their way down the street with Usagi walking in front of the group.

As she walks down the street with her hands behind her head, she listens in to the conversation going on around her with slight interest as to what they were deciding to do. She lets a smile cross over her face when it's decided that they will all go to the park and have some fun since they have Rei's little sister with them.

Usagi nods her head slightly when she is asked if that's okay then goes back to not listening to them once more. She feels a slight shiver pass over her body as the hairs on the back of her neck prickle. To her it feels like someone was trying to bore holes into the back of her head which is what she felt during classes a lot of the time. Thought she can be a little slow from time to time, it didn't take a genius to figure out who exactly it is that's currently doing the glaring. She sighs wearily as she falls deep into thought about the feisty girl behind her. She knew that Makoto was okay and Minako seems alright with her, even if she does come off a bit of a space case at times. It was that amethyst eyed girl who was an entirely different story. For some odd reason Usagi just couldn't get along with the dark haired teen at all and it was a complete mystery to her as to why.

'That girl, what the hell is her deal anyway?' Usagi muses, only to frown to herself her eyebrows furrowing deep in thought. 'What the hell is her name again, anyway?' She knew that she had heard it from Hotaru and Haruka on numerous occasions, but usually after they said the girls name she'd end up getting angry with them and start ranting about the girl. She knew Minako's because the girl had come up and told her otherwise she was pretty sure she wouldn't have known it. For the life of her though she couldn't remember that dark haired girls name at all, because usually she just referrers to her as the banshee, abusive animal, a dragon and on a couple of occasions she called her the beast. Now that she thinks about it, she never once called the abusive girl by her name while they traded insulting names back and forth whenever they saw one another.

During morning class she often dozed off during roll call and never paid much attention unless her name was called. At lunch, she would sometimes nap on Hotaru's lap so she wasn't included in their conversations. Throughout the week she had hardly seen any of them during break because she was too busy fighting off Mamoru and his gang of pansy boys.

Her thoughts were interrupted when she felt a hand on her shoulder. She looks over to her side and sees Haruka smiling down at her then points over towards a store.

"Hey, Usa, let's go on in and see if we can't find a couple of toys for the squirt to play with at the park, huh?" Haruka asks Usa who looks up and sees Rei's sister on Haruka's shoulders with a large smile on her face.

"Sure, let's go on in," Usa states with a chuckle following the duo over to the store to purchase a couple toys for the park.

When they come out they continue on their way to the park with Rei glaring at the back of Usagi's head the entire way there.

* * *

><p>Hours passed and the sun had set when Usagi and her aunts return back to the mansion. Hotaru and Haruka watch with amused expressions on their faces as the two siblings watch Usagi collapse onto the sofa and stretch out on top of it.<p>

"I've got a feeling that girl is out to kill me or something," Usagi whispers which makes Haruka and Hotaru look at each other with shared frowns on their faces.

The two girls sit beside Usagi and place their hands on each side of the girl's shoulders.

"Oh come on, Usa. She's not that bad," Haruka offers with a small grin on her face.

"Not that bad? Are you seriously?" Usa exclaims thinking that their sanity should be in question as she shoots up from her spot on the couch and glares at her Aunt.

"At the park she kicked the soccer ball at my head and made me take a nose dive into the grass! I'm still picking grass out of my teeth by the way!"

"I'm sure she thought you knew that she was going to kick it to you. She probably figured that you could deflect it with your chest or your head. As for doing a face plant into the ground well how was she supposed to know that you were behind her when she was backing up?" Hotaru reasons which causes Usagi to frown more at the other teen.

"Okay, fine, I'll give you that point on account that it could be sure. Then what about her pouring her soda into my lap and making me lose my hot dog to the evil weevils?"

"Well she said that she was trying to get a better spot on the ground and accidentally dumped it into your lap which was completely accidently. As for the hot dog, well, how was she supposed to know that while she was gesturing as she told a story that you were going to walk by her? Besides, Usagi, those were dogs now weevils!"

"Alright, how about when one of her sandals flew from her foot and hit me in the head?"

"Her strap on her sandal broke," Haruka explains in a deadpan voice.

"When she stretched out her arms and her ice cream cone shoved into my face."

"How was she supposed to know that you were walking up to her to ask something of Makoto who was sitting beside her?" Hotaru raises an eyebrow at Usagi who throws her hands up in frustration.

"HOTARU! HARUKA!" Usagi howls out when her two Aunts give her plausible reasons for each of her acquisitions.

"She's a damn, demon, I'm telling you!" Usagi exclaims while crossing her arms over her chest.

"Naw, she's purely human and I keep telling you that," Hotaru states and moves quickly when Usagi tries to grab the chuckling blonde.

Usagi topples off the couch in her efforts and stares up at the chuckling Haruka who sits on the couch looking down at her prone niece. She lets out a huff and gives Haruka a dirty look than stomps out of the room muttering to her-self.

She brushes past a stunned Setsuna without even a hello and goes up to her room. Setsuna looks back at the retreating back of the muttering girl then looks back into the room she just came out of noticing the laughing siblings.

"What's wrong with him?" She questions as she comes into the room and walks over to the large chair with a huge sketch book under her arm.

"Oh, he's just pissed because he has a crush on this girl, but is determined to prove that she's out to get him," Haruka states with a chuckle earning her a slap on the arm from Hotaru.

"While most of that is true," Hotaru states with a glare at her sister. "It's more that he thinks that Rei want's nothing more than to hurt him, so he looks at things with a negative light when it comes to things that she does. However, most of the incidents are purely accidently."

Setsuna nods her head with a chuckle and rolls her eyes at the explanation. "So it's like a grade school crush where they insult each other and pull one another's hair?"

Haruka and Hotaru look at each other before breaking out into laughter. "Yeah something like that," Haruka states with a nod of her head.

"That's a funny situation. I hope they figure it out soon," Setsuna shakes her head and chuckles.

She opens her sketch book and begins some sketching only to look up after a bit when something comes to her mind. She looks over towards Hotaru who is currently listening to something Haruka was thinking of doing.

"Umm, Taru, can I ask you a question?" Setsuna questions placing her sketchbook aside when Hotaru looks up and nods her head.

"Oh, what's that, Setsuna?" Hotaru asks coming over to sit down in a chair next to Setsuna's while Haruka stays on the couch.

"Well, I was wondering if you could maybe show Ami around a bit. I mean, I know she's shy and all, but if you could just show her around and let her get to know the place then maybe she wouldn't stay hold up in her room studying all the time. Not that I condone studying, but there is only so much someone can do, you know?"

"Sure, I can do that. Ren and I can show her around at school too. We can introduce her to Makoto, Minako and Rei. Well, I'll introduce her to Rei, because if Ren comes with us for that one, then those two will just get into a fight again," Hotaru states deep in thought before a wide smile spreads across her face as she remembers the conversation from earlier in the day. "Well, actually, speaking of Rei. Her family is having a party tomorrow. That would be a great time to get her out of the house. I'll ask Rei if it's okay that I bring her along than she can meet everyone there."

"That sounds like a great idea. Thank you, Taru," Setsuna states with a large smile on her face.

She reaches down to pick up her discarded sketchbook thinking that maybe the party is just the ticket for her very shy niece. She can meet some new friends and hopefully have a good time while she does so. Yes, Setsuna would have to think of a way to keep her niece from weaseling her way out of going with her family to the function.

Hotaru smiles back at Setsuna glad to be able to help the woman figure out how to help her shy niece. She looks up and says good night to Haruka when she announces that she should be heading over to her own house. She excuses herself to Setsuna and heads on up to her own room so she can get some homework done. She stops at Usagi's room where she finds the blonde sitting at her desk with her own homework in front of her. The teen doesn't look up from her text book at all, but holds out a letter towards Hotaru. After she takes the letter from her, Usa points towards the door effectively dismissing the shorter teen and goes back to her homework.

With a sigh and a shake of her head, Hotaru walks towards her own room. She looks down at the letter within her hands her eyes growing wide. An audible gulp echoes down the hallway when she notices that it's one of those letters again. Slowly she closes the door with a soft click behind her.

* * *

><p><em>To be continued…<em>


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

* * *

><p>Usagi stands in the door way with her arms crossed and watches her Aunt burrow further into her blankets making a makeshift cocoon. With a shake of her head, she lets out a quiet sigh. 'Every time that unnamed letter comes in the mail she automatically falls into one of these moods. Who the hell is writing to her that can make her act this way?' She ponders as she watches the small pile of blankets shudder with Hotaru's movement.<p>

"Leave me alone!" Usagi hears a voice exclaim though muffled by the multitude of blankets covering her Aunt.

A shoe goes whizzing past Usagi's head only to hit the wall beside her with a dull thud before falling to the floor. Plushies, shoes and a wallet litter the floor in front of Usagi. She lets out a sigh of relief when she notices that Hotaru only has one shoe left to throw at her.

"You're running out of ammo there, Hotaru," Usagi states with a chuckle only to stop suddenly when Hotaru throws the blankets off only to glare at her niece with a venomous look.

"Then I'll just have to start throwing my lamps!" She exclaims with a menacing look upon her face as she continues to glare at Usagi.

Usagi makes a face and rubs the side of her head in thought of being hit in the head with one. She'd been hit there enough times over the past two weeks that she was pretty sure if she was hit anymore then she would probably end up with brain damage for sure.

"Fine, whatever you want, Taru. I'll come back when supper is ready to get you and believe me; you are going to eat something. If you don't I'll have Haruka help me force feed you again like last time!" She exclaims only to let out another sigh when she notices that Hotaru went back under the blankets and lays there unmoving once more.

She shoves off the door frame and puts her hands into her jeans pockets before leaving the Hotaru's room.

She whirls around when she hears a door slamming behind her and does a double take when she notices that the entire pile of stuff that Hotaru had thrown at her was gone. Blinking in disbelief she looks at the door only to see it shut still vibrating from the force of the door being closed.

'Wow, that was really fast,' she thinks only to turn pale at the thought of her Aunt being faster than her. She shakes the thought out of her head before continuing on to her room. She stops short when she hears the doorbell to the front door ring downstairs.

She raises an eyebrow at that sound, but decides to let the maids answer it. Besides if it was for her they'd come to get her, she reasons. She enters her room in order to finish her homework so that she wouldn't be rushing to complete it the night before school.

She's just about to close the door to her room when a maid rounds the corner and comes to up to her to tell her that she has a guest that would like to speak to her. Usagi raises a blonde eyebrow then nods her head before following the maid to the tea room wondering just who exactly could be here that wants to see her. She shrugs her shoulders putting it out of her mind and continues to follow the maid to the room. The door slightly ajar allows her to catch a glimpse of bright pink hair pulled high up into a bun. She frowns and rubs the back of her head. Her visit couldn't have come at a worse time. Plastering a smile upon her face, she enters the room and greets her guest with a false sense of cheer.

* * *

><p>Hotaru lets out a sigh and snuggles into her blankets more after Usagi had left. She had wanted to be left alone with her thoughts, but her niece seemed hell bent on bugging her to see what was wrong. Her pale violet eyes narrowed at the ceiling. How was she supposed to explain to her niece that she had gotten a letter from someone that seemed to want nothing more than break her heart again and again? She knew what Usa would say about the situation she was in. She would say that she should just cut the person loose and never speak to them again. She knew it too, but she just couldn't bring herself to do that. She loved the person with every ounce of her soul and she knew that her sometimes uncaring niece just wouldn't understand that.<p>

She cuts off a sob that had been working up into her throat back down and snuggles under her blanket sanctuary once more. She tries to will the dull ache away in her heart; though in the back of her mind she knows that it's a fruitless attempt.

Usagi sits in one of the chairs and stares down into her tea cup while trying to think of what to say to her guest that sits across from her, but for the life of her, she just couldn't think of anything to say to the pink haired girl sitting in front of her.

"So, how are you, Usagi? How's school going for you? Still got girls chasing after you?" A mischievous look crosses the face of the girl sitting in front of her which was only enhanced by the twinkle that appears in her garnet eyes.

* * *

><p>Usagi lets out a quiet sigh and pushes the bangs, which had currently fallen into her eyes, out of the way dimly noting that it was about time for another haircut.<p>

"Oh you know, same ole, same ole. Though there's not much I can do about that," she states with a grimace when she takes a drink of her now, cold tea.

"So I'm guessing in other words, you're still being mobbed like a rock star," the girl adds which makes Usagi frowns at the words then shakes her head.

"What are you doing here, Yomiko?" Usagi asks leaning forward to pin the pink haired girl down with a hard stare. "It's obviously not to ask me about how school is going or if the girls are still chasing me around like a pack of rabid dogs. So why exactly are you here?"

Yomiko lowers her tea cup down to the saucer and places it onto the table in front of them before letting out a sigh. "I was actually hoping to see, Hotaru. It's been so long since I've seen her," she responds quietly with her eyes down cast.

"I honestly don't think she wants to see you," Usagi states; keeping her eyes glued to the girl sitting in front of her as she puts her tea cup onto the table as well.

The pink haired girl looks up at Usagi only to look back down at her hands quickly, nodding her head slightly at Usagi's words. She looks over towards the door and lets out a soft sigh after sometime of internal debate.

"Does she really hate me that much," Yomiko asks; looking back towards Usagi with her eyes shimmering with tears that refuse to fall just yet.

"No, I don't think that she hates you, Yomiko. I think it's more like she can't handle seeing you again because of what happened between the two of you," Usagi supplies with a shrug of her shoulders.

"But, I'm just looking out for her best interests, Usa!" Yomiko exclaims throwing her hands up into the air in exasperation almost knocking the tea cup over in the process.

"She doesn't see it that way, Yomi. She sees it more as you throwing her love away," Usagi states with a shrug of her shoulders. "You know how stubborn she can be."

"Yes, I know how stubborn she can truly be. I just wish that she would see it the way I see it for once then maybe she wouldn't be so bitter towards me and at least reply to the letters that I have sent to her every once in a while," Yomiko states looking tired after her outburst and leans back against the chair to place her chin onto her folded hands.

'Ahh, so that's who writes to Hotaru once a month. I was beginning to wonder if it wasn't her,' Usagi thinks as she picks up her tea cup and downs it in one swallow to buy sometime while she comes up with a response to what Yomiko had slipped out. She looks at Yomiko with a thoughtful expression on her face considering her next course of action.

"Well maybe instead of just leaving her like you did last time with just a note trying to explain why you left, you should instead sit her stubborn ass down and actually explain it to her. I know that it'll take some doing to get her to actually listen to you, but it couldn't hurt," Usagi supplies with a shrug of her shoulder running her fingers through her hair to keep her hands busy.

"Maybe, but it was the easiest way to explain it to her. I'm not very good with confrontations," Yomiko states; looking towards the door again in order to avoid the crystal blue eyes that seem to have the ability to look into her very soul like always.

"And I don't like seeing my Aunt all angst ridden and moody, Yomi! Either you fix this between the two of you or I'll get Haruka to help me. Understood?" Usagi asks; leaning forward in her chair towards the pink haired girl with a hard glare.

Her hands clenching the arms of the chair so hard that it starts to creek under the pressure of her grip, knuckles' turning white from the effort it is taking her not to reach out and grab the woman in front of her so that she can shake some sense into her.

Yomiko's head snaps around to stare at Usagi with a hard look of her own only for her eyes to soften when she sees the pleading within the younger girl's eyes. She nods her head and lets out a sigh before reaching over to pick her cup up and drains it with a swallow.

"Alright, I'll take care of it as soon as I can, but I'm not promising anything, Usa. You're right when you say she's stubborn, but I will try and talk to her the best way I know how," Yomiko states before looking down at her hands then back up again to smile at the younger girl.

"That's all I ask, Yomi. Just for you to try, that's all," the blond nods her head and gets up from her chair. "I'll see if she'll see you."

Usagi walks over to Yomiko and places a comforting hand upon the other girls shoulder for a moment giving the older girl a tight smile. She walks out of the room to go and get Hotaru for the pink haired girl. Thoughts run through her head as she walks towards the stairs. She can't help, but feel sorry for them. The situation they were in was something no one should be in, but the best she could do was try and help them anyway she could.

* * *

><p>After a shouting match later, Usagi and Hotaru finally walk through the doors to the tea room. When Usagi is about to leave Hotaru grabs her arm and looks up at her with a pleading look on her face and Usagi nods her head before following her Aunt over to where the other pink haired girl sits then takes a seat on the couch.<p>

Hotaru sits down in a chair that's furthest away from the pink haired girl and looks around idly for a moment not knowing exactly what to say. She never dreamed that she would be sitting in the same area as the older girl again.

"How have you been Hotaru?" Yomiko asks; in the hopes of striking up some sort of conversation with the quiet girl off to her side.

"Fine and how have you been Yomiko-san?" Hotaru questions in a soft voice as she bores a hole into the wall off to her side.

"Can't complain," the pink haired girl whispers keeping her eyes downcast, fixed upon her hands that lay within her lap, her heart sinking when she hears the honorific tacked on to her name.

The two girls stay quiet for some time making Usagi shift around in the uncomfortable silence that had fallen in the room. She's about to say something when she sees Yomiko raise her head and stare longingly at Hotaru.

"Do you truly hate me that much Taru?" Yomiko asks her voice barely a whisper; her hands becoming awfully interesting once again when Hotaru doesn't meet her eyes.

Garnet eyes up at the sullen girl in front of her only to look away suddenly so that she doesn't break down when Hotaru refrains from answering the question. Sad eyes fill with tears at the prolonged silence that stretches after the question had been posed.

Hotaru sighs quietly, her thoughts raging a battle within her mind because of the question that still hung within the air. It wasn't that she hated the girl; oh she did at first but not anymore. Still it was hard for her to voice her true emotions; it was hard for her to say what she truly felt about the whole situation.

"I see," Yomiko whispers dejectedly.

"I don't hate you..." Hotaru pauses not knowing what else to say to the girl.

"I'm sorry but I have some work to do, so please excuse me," Hotaru states before she gets up, bows politely.

Before Yomiko can stop her from going, she runs out of the room and up the stairs towards her room.

Yomiko stares at the place that Hotaru used to stand and lowers her head the tears that she had been trying to keep reined in, now flowing down her cheeks. She looks up when she feels a hand on her shoulder and buries her face into Usagi's stomach then allows the sobs to come, thinking that she was glad that Usagi was there so that she could muffle the sound of her heart breaking into the other girl's shirt.

* * *

><p>Hours seemed to pass while Hotaru lay silently in her bed with the lights out. She stares at the ceiling in the waning light and lets out a sigh.<p>

'Yomiko,' she thinks mournfully before turning onto her side and closes her eyes as silent tears slip slowly down her face, squeezed out by the shutting of her eyes.

They had been so perfect together, but she knew that something was wrong when Yomiko had asked her to keep their relationship a secret from everyone else. She wasn't sure why, because she was portraying a male to everyone that wasn't within their family. Yomiko was the first person that she had ever told that she was indeed a female too, but it had changed everything between the two of them.

Yomiko seemed to grow more and more distant as the time they spent together wore on. She was never sure as to why the other girl was doing such a thing to her, but she didn't question it and was just content in being within her presence. As time continued to slip by the strain, however, start to become too much to bear.

Before long, Yomiko stopped coming over and they stopped hanging out together like they used too. The more distant they got, the more desperate Hotaru got to try and keep their relationship together. She tried so many things, but no matter what she tried to do, it never seemed to be enough for her love Yomiko.

Then one day, she received a letter in the mail from her love was the most eye opening, yet painful day she could experience. In the letter it stated that Yomiko was actually a lesbian and that their school knew that she was one. She didn't want to risk Hotaru's identity because of her straight forwardness and so she was breaking it off with Hotaru.

Devastated Hotaru had retreated back to her room for days. Finally fed up with it Usagi and Haruka had literally dragged her from her room with her kicking and screaming the entire way. They sat on either side of her taking turns forcing her to eat. The only saving grace was that Yomiko had broken up with her during the summer holiday so she didn't miss any school due to her self-imposed imprisonment.

Absently she wondered how long Yomiko would continue to pursue her to try and explain her actions. How long before the girl would finally give up on her and go out with someone else instead of her. On one hand she wished desperately to be reunited with her once again but on the other hand, she didn't want to be the girl's last resort or even for it to be the way it was in the end of their relationship. She sighed while she held on tightly to a small bear that her mother had given her when she was a little girl. She was so confused and lost when it came to her feelings towards the pink haired girl. Her eyelids lowered as exhaustion seeped into her body. The arrival of her letters usually left her feeling so drained because it evoked so many conflicting feelings within her. She wasn't prepared for what it would be like to actually see her in person. She was finding that seeing her was by far worse than the letters that she was receiving monthly. Right now her mind, body and heart pleaded for her to drift off into oblivion and for a little while pretend that everything was okay. Shifting into a comfortable position, she slowly succumbs to the exhaustion that has been screaming at her and allows her mind to finally drift into the abyss that beacons to her.

* * *

><p>Saturday dawns bright and clear with the blue skies betraying the fact that it's chilly outside. Usagi stands beside the window and stretches, her mouth opening wide in a jaw popping yawn. The whole night she had been plagued with dreams about a certain raven haired banshee, enough so that it kept her from getting a decent night's sleep, but she knew that her father wanted her to be up early for their morning workout.<p>

She sighs when she remembers that her Aunt Haruka and Michiru had come over after Yomiko had left stating that they wanted to take her out to a party tonight so that she can wind down from the week that she had. Usagi gave each woman a strange look asking them, "How can a party help me wind down?" She proceeded to make a comment about the fact that she thought Haruka still lived at the mansion since she was there all the time. That comment had earned her a smack to her shoulder from her blonde haired Aunt who then rolled her eyes and agreed with her on the statement.

She tried to get out of it, but Michiru had come up to her side and smiled at her prettily before saying that it would be great to spend some time with her. Usagi looked at Haruka then narrowed her eyes to slits when she realized the reason that Haruka had brought Michiru with her.

After a couple of minutes of poking and prodding her to get her to go, she relented just so that the two older women would leave her alone. Haruka had grinned before telling her what time to be ready and what to wear since the party was going to be a masquerade party.

Usagi nodded her head before leaving the room and went up to her room to get some much needed sleep after the day she had.

She shakes her head and lets out a sigh after returning from her musings then slips on her work out clothes.

'The things that I get put through,' she thinks as she heads down the stairs to the gym to be put through the wringer by her father once again.

* * *

><p>"We're doing what, before the party?" Usagi grumbles; tugging on her jacket that was currently being altered for the party that night.<p>

"We're going to a concert. The party afterwards is more or less to honor Michiru since she'll be the guest of honor and all," Haruka answers; buffing one of her cuff links on her jacket before looking over towards Usagi who's standing on a stool.

"I thought you said that this is a masquerade party, Ruka!" Usagi exclaims as she waves a hand around which earns her a hard glare from the tailor that is crouching down next to her pant leg.

"Well, it is. Now, stop fidgeting so that Ryu can finish up the hemming," she states with a twinkle in her eyes.

Usagi rolls her eyes and stops moving around so that the hemming will be done and over with. She glares at her Aunt in anger, but it only makes Haruka's smile grow bigger at the uncomfortable way that Usagi is standing.

"Don't worry, Usa. It'll be fine and you'll have fun. So all of this standing around looking like a dork will be worth it," Haruka states with a chuckle which causes Usagi to stick her tongue out at her.

* * *

><p>Usagi walks out of the concert hall with a large grin upon her face. The concert had been surprisingly good. She had actually enjoyed listening to Michiru play the violin. She had sat very still during the performance, her eyes wide open as she watched the older woman weaves tales using only her violin to tell the stories. She leans her head to the side thinking as to when she had enjoyed a concert so much, but couldn't come up with any other time before now. The majestic feel of the music had lost its luster after all the meaningless concerts her father had dragged her to. She supposed that maybe she saw the quality within the music once again because her father wasn't there with her at all and it wasn't a public relations outing, but just a night out with her Aunt.<p>

The fact that Usagi was grinning ear to ear after the concert was not lost upon the older couple. They look at once another and smile. They were truly glad that they could give the younger woman a break from the demands that the family put upon someone as young as her.

"I'm glad that you enjoyed the concert so much," Michiru comments; walking with her arm linked with Haruka's. "Ruka said that you were grumbling about it, but when she looked over she noticed that you were actually enjoying yourself."

"Yeah, well, dad used to drag me off to a bunch of different concerts for the publicity it would bring to the company. After a while they just weren't the same. Having to stand around while my father posed for the cameras wasn't all that much fun for me. I think though that you've rekindled the joy I once got from them," Usagi states with her hand rubbing the back of her head while she chuckles in embarrassment.

"I'm sure that the girls who were hitting on you helped too," Ruka states; looking back at Usagi whose face had gone to an interesting shade of red.

"Err, well, yeah, I suppose so," Usagi states in a bashful voice as she gets into the car before Michiru so that the older girl can sit beside Haruka in the passenger seat.

"So are you ready for the party then?" Michiru asks after turning around in her seat to look at Usagi who shrugs her shoulders.

"As ready, as I'll ever be, I suppose, Michi. I've never been to one of these parties before. Sure I've been to a formal party, but never a masquerade party."

"Don't worry about it so much. You'll be a hit at the party. Every eligible girl in the room will want to dance with such a dashing young man," Michiru states with a twinkle of mirth in her eyes.

"Sure, whatever you say, Michi," Usagi states with a laugh and roll of her eyes.

"Oh, don't knock it, Usa. You look great and you know it," Ruka chuckles sliding into the driver seat where she starts up the car and pulls the car out of the parking lot trying to beat the rush of cars doing the same.

'Well, maybe, but there's only one girl that I want to notice me,' Usagi thinks only for her eyes to widen at the thought that had crossed her mind. 'Where in the hell did that come from? I must be more tired than I thought. Yeah, that's it. I'm just tired,' she thinks to herself with a nod of her head and turns her head to stare out to the window as Haruka maneuvers the car through the traffic to get to where the party is being held.

* * *

><p>After finally finding a place to park, Usagi gets out of the car with a raised eyebrow at the set of steps off to the side of the mansion in front of them. Her eyes trek up the steps to where she can just barely make out a large structure up at the top of the steps. She shrugs her shoulders at the mysterious building and follows her Aunt up towards the mansion.<p>

Shoulders sagging a little, she casually peers around through her long bangs, almost wishing that her moody, brooding Aunt was with her right now. She wasn't sure how she could get through this by herself and not want to bolt for the exit the moment they entered the extravagant home.

Letting out a sigh and she notices that they are standing in front of a man that is asking for their coats. 'Well it's too late to back out now,' she muses to herself before she hands over her leather bomber jacket to the coat checker.

Entering into the ballroom, she takes in the large number of people that are milling around tables and the dance floor. When the trio walks into the room it seems that every eye suddenly hones in on them. She gulps soundlessly as she threads her fingers through her hair trying to rein in on her nervousness. She knows that she's wearing a mask, but at the moment it feels like she's more exposed then she has ever been before.

Worrying her bottom lip, she lets a sigh escape soundlessly between her lips. 'I think this was a big mistake,' she muses just before noticing a pink haired girl making her way over towards them. 'Oh, Kami, it just got worse.'

* * *

><p>Usa leans back against the wall watching everyone in the room, arms are crossed over the front of a white tux jacket with her black slacks covered leg bent at the knee and her foot rests on the wall behind her. Crystal blue eyes scan the room taking in the inhabitants of the ballroom. A hand reaches up to rake through platinum blonde locks as a sigh of relief explodes from her lips when she notices that Yomiko is wondering off in the opposite direction of the wall she is currently squandering.<p>

Upon entering the large ballroom earlier Yomiko had ran up to the startled young woman and started to thank her profusely for allowing her the time to come to terms with her feelings. As the woman continued to gush, Usagi had blushed fiercely while the woman in front of her continued to go on. Over her shoulder, Usagi notices Hotaru looking at the two girls with a slight frown upon her face.

She had extracted her hand away from Yomiko with as much tack as she could muster and told her that she was going off somewhere before leaving the other girl standing in the middle of the ball room floor with a slight frown on her face. Walking away with her head downcast, she loses herself within the crowd of people so that, Yomiko couldn't follow her. She had stalked over to the wall hoping against hope that the other woman wouldn't find her for the rest of the night so that she could avoid conflict with her angry looking Aunt.

'Hmm, serves her right. She might have been trying to do the right thing by leaving Hotaru, so that no one would find out that my Aunt was a girl, but that doesn't excuse her for all the other horrible crap she's done,' Usa thinks to herself with a shake of her head.

Pushing away from the wall she decides that since Yomiko's attention is currently upon trying to find her that she might as well grab something to drink. She licks her lips realizing that she hasn't had anything to drink since her escape from the persistent older woman.

She makes her way over to the punch bowl, excusing herself as she gets jostled on her way there and knocked into a woman who just smiles at the young woman as she blushes, stuttering out an apology. She hastily makes her way the remaining steps to the punch bowl and lets out a sigh of relief.

Reaching out a hand to grab a glass, her eyes snap towards her right side when she sees a familiar flash of hair, but it's gone before she can see who it is. She jumps when another hand comes into contact with her own.

Turning her head back to the front, a small gasp slips past her lips when her gaze happens upon a beautiful woman standing in front of her. The woman is dressed elegantly in a long sleeved, silky red dress, the straps of the dress crosses into a v at the base of her neck, resting upon her cleavage is a silver phoenix suspended by a gold chain.

Crystal blue eyes travel up a slender neck to a face that is half covered by a mask. Amethyst eyes sparkle behind the mask. Usagi tilts her head to the side for a moment as she gets the feeling that the eyes looking back at her are very familiar.

A slight shake of her head at the feeling before she pulls her hand back for a moment to allow the other woman to get a glass of punch. When the other woman doesn't react she reaches back out to grab a glass of the red liquid and hands her a cup of punch. She smiles at the woman and bows to the woman gentlemanly.

The other woman just continues to stare at her. She raises an eyebrow at this, but shakes her head slightly about faces and walks away from the punch bowl, pondering why she did what she did with a look of thoughtfulness upon her face.

* * *

><p>Rei releases the breath that she hadn't realized that she had been holding as the young man walks away from her. Leaning her head towards the side she wonders if the man that had just been standing there was actually Ren-san like she thought it was.<p>

Shaking her head she wonders why she cares for what seems like the hundredth time this past week alone. She walks away from the refreshment table looking for her friends. Pausing for a moment she looks back to where she saw the youth walk to only to notice a blue haired girl talking to him.

Turning back around she continues on her way towards her friend who are seem to be looking towards the place that she had just recently been staring at.

"Hey, isn't that, Ren-san?" Minako asks trying to stand on the tips of her toes to get a better look at the platinum blonde boy standing a couple of yards away.

"I wouldn't know," Rei mumbles; absently rubbing the back of her hand where the blonde haired boy had touched it.

"Who's the girl that he's talking to?" Makoto questions the others as she watches the two teens talking.

"I don't know. I've never seen her before," Minako glances over towards Rei who is currently crushing her empty glass with a look of annoyance on her face.

"Hey, there's Taru. I'll bet he knows if that's Ren-san or not," Makoto points over towards Hotaru who is currently standing at the other end of the room watching someone.

The three girls make their way through the crowd towards, Hotaru, who's currently watching a pink hair girl talking to another man in a powder blue tux. She's so engrossed with her vigilance that she doesn't notice the three teens walking up to her until Makoto is standing right beside her.

"Who are you staring at, Taru?" Makoto asks quietly which results in Hotaru jerking slightly before looking at Makoto.

"Oh, Makoto, I didn't know you were there. What did you say?" She sneaks a quick glance over towards Yomiko.

She turns her focus back to Makoto when she hears a slight laugh only to notice that the other girl is currently smirking at her with a knowing look upon her face.

"Oh, well it's nothing really. So, can you tell us if that's Ren-san over there," Makoto asks while pointing towards the blonde haired boy who's still talking to a bluenette.

Hotaru stands on the tips of her toes in order to get a better look at the person that Makoto is pointing at. She raises an eyebrow when she indeed sees, Usa, standing by her cousin before she leads her out onto the dance floor and begins to dance with the girl.

"Yeah, that's Ren, alright," Hotaru answers before lowering herself to a normal standing position.

'I wonder how, Ami, was able to get her out onto the dance floor? Usually, Usa, hates to dance,' Hotaru asks herself before turning her attention back to Makoto.

"I didn't know he was coming," Minako states with an eyebrow raised in surprise. "Wow, he's a really good dancer."

The other two girls crane their necks to see Usagi gliding across the dance floor with the girl that he had been talking to. Makoto and Hotaru glance at each other with their eyebrows raised before turning their attention back to the dancing teens.

* * *

><p>"See, I told you it was easy," Usagi smiles as she guides her cousin, Ami, across the dance floor.<p>

"You're very good. Are you sure you can't dance or is it more that you're too shy to actually dance with someone else?"

Ami blushes a light red before looking down at her feet. "I guess it's more that I'm too shy to actually dance with anyone else here. Thank you for dancing with me, Ren. I really do enjoy dancing."

"Well, that makes one of us. Usually, I don't like to dance, but I figured that I'd make an exception with you. You are family after all," Usagi states with a chuckle before winking at her cousin when she notices other guys looking at her with envy.

"I'm thinking that there are plenty of guys here that would love to dance with you."

"You're just saying that, Ren. Why would any of the guys here want to dance with me?" The bluenette questions blushing even more.

"You know you really don't give yourself enough credit," Usagi states while guiding her over to where a bunch of guys stand staring at the duo.

"You see those guys over there? They are watching you because you are gorgeous. Any idiot can see that, Ami."

Ami looks down at her feet once again before looking back up at her cousin with a serious expression on her face. "Can I confess something to you without you getting mad?"

"Hey, you can tell me anything. I promise that I won't get mad at all," Usagi states with a serious expression upon her face.

Ami licks her lips while furrowing her eyebrows.

"I'm not really into, guys. I haven't been for a while and the real reason I asked to dance with you isn't only because you're my cousin nor just because I wanted to dance, but more along the lines that you're safe. You're family and I know that you won't try to cop a feel while we dance," Ami explains with a slight blush on her face.

"Is that all? And here I was thinking that you were going to tell me that you want to run away with the circus or something," Usagi states with a slight chuckle at her joke then shakes her head.

"But seriously, that doesn't bother me, nor does it make me mad. Actually, it explains some things about yourself; really and please believe me when I say that I'm glad that I'm getting to know you, Ami. It's sort of nice to have someone else in the house besides Hotaru that's around my age."

Ami looks up at her cousin and lets a large smile cross over her face before she allows herself to dance happily with her cousin while they chat about school, their childhood and some funny stories about growing up with their Aunts.

* * *

><p>Rei watches the two teens dancing with her arms crossed over her chest, a dark look crossing over her face as she watches the blonde haired boy laugh and shake his head at something the blue haired girl had said.<p>

"How about instead of moping around over here you go over to Ren-san and ask him to dance?" Minako asks making Rei jump and spin around to glare at her blonde haired friend.

"Why would I want to dance with that baka?" Rei grumbles after regaining her composer and crosses her arms over her chest once again with a scowl on her face.

"Oh, I don't know. Maybe, because if you glare at Ren-san anymore then you are now, he's going to combust into a ball of fire," Minako states with a wave of her hand.

"Look, Rei. I know how you are. I know what you like and maybe just maybe you like this boy. Yes, it does seem ridiculous, especially with what you had confessed to me a year ago, but maybe there's something about this boy that is making you actually notice him."

Rei scoffs and shakes her head before looking away from the dancing boy back towards her friend with an angry look on her face.

"I don't want anything to do with that perverted boy, Mina. So get that thought out your mind right now," she states angrily and stalks off towards the refreshment table once again.

Minako lets out an exasperated sigh as she turns back towards her two friends with a shrug of her shoulders that says, "Well, I tried".

The other two nod their heads as they look over towards the blonde and his dancing partner only to see a pink haired girl walking up towards them with what seems like a determined look upon her face.

The blonde turns towards Taru and is about to ask him if he knew who the girl is only to stop when, she notices a dark look pass over the dark haired boys face as his eyes narrow to slits.

Minako and Makoto exchange looks at the sudden change of attitude in their young friend, but they both decide not to voice their concerns over the change. Turning away from the fuming young man they watch the interaction between Ren-san and the pink haired girl. With a shake of their heads they can't help but wonder just what exactly is going on with the people within their little group right at this moment.

* * *

><p>Rei lets out a scoff while her mind wanders back to the conversation she had with Minako before she stalked off towards the refreshment table. She notices that the bluenette that Ren-san had been dancing with is currently standing in front of the punch bowl pouring a glass of punch for her-self.<p>

'Well, it can't hurt to find out what the relationship is between those two. It's not because I care, but it just looked like they had danced that way more than once and I'd like to know where they learned how to dance like that. Yeah, that's all it is,' Rei thinks to her-self before slowly making her way over towards the other girl.

When she's close enough to the bowl she reaches out for a cup only to accidentally knock her hand against the other girls. They both apologize to each other before they laugh softly with the short haired girl blushing slightly.

"I'm sorry, I wasn't paying attention," the blue haired girl states before bowing to Rei who blushes slightly as well.

"No, no. It's alright, really. I was a bit preoccupied with my thoughts," Rei states while rubbing the back of her neck.

"Oh, that's alright," the blue haired girl states before reaching out for a cup of punch after Rei does.

"I'm Hino Rei by the way," Rei states before bowing towards the other girl who smiles back at the raven haired girl.

"I'm Mizuno Ami. It's a pleasure to meet you, Rei-san," the bluenette states politely before taking a sip of her punch.

"Please call me, Rei," Rei offers before taking a drink of her own punch before turning away from the girl and leans against the table only to see that boy dancing with a pink haired girl now.

"You can call me, Ami, if you'd like," the girl states from beside Rei which causes Rei to look back over towards the girl with a slight embarrassed look on her face.

"I'd like to very much. So, tell me, how do you know, Ren-san?" Rei blurts out then rolls her eyes slightly at her outburst. "I mean, how did you two meet?"

Ami lets out a chuckle before looking over towards Ren who's still dancing with Yomiko, but from the look on his face he'd rather be anywhere but there.

"Oh, well, Ren is my cousin. I asked him if he'd dance with me because I was sort of shy to ask any of the other guys. Well, that and I felt safer dancing with him than anyone else really," Ami answers with a smile on her face. "He really is a great dancer, even though he doesn't like too."

"He's your cousin?" Rei asks with a raised eyebrow at the information that Ami had given her.

"Yeah, he is. He was just being nice to me," Ami states with a shrug of her shoulders.

"Wait, Ren-san is nice? I find that hard to believe," Rei states with a shake of her head.

"Yeah, he really is. It's hard to believe and you have to dig deep down into him, but the niceness is there. I think he's had a hard life and that's made him sort of hard to get to know. I think it made him put up walls to block everyone out except for family, but it is there," Ami answers with a chuckle at the look of horror on her cousin's face. "I should go save him, before he decides to jump out of a window. It was nice meeting you, Rei."

"It was nice meeting you as well, Ami," Rei states before watching Ami make her way over towards her cousin with a raised eyebrow. 'Ren-san's nice? Who would've thought that?' Rei asks herself before shrugging her shoulders then walks back over towards her friends once more while hoping that Minako wouldn't make any more comments about liking Ren-san.

When she reaches her friends she notices the dark cloud that is currently hovering over Taru's head. She looks over at her two friends who only shrug their shoulders at the silent question that she asks them. 'Maybe Ren-san stole his girlfriend,' Rei muses before getting into a quiet conversation with Makoto so that they don't interrupt Taru's sulking.

* * *

><p>Later that night Usagi arrives back home with her Aunt and Michiru. She lets out a sigh of relief when she enters the tea room and falls over on to the couch, covering her eyes with her. She lets out a groan as she reaches down to her feet and begins rubbing them.<p>

"I haven't danced that much since well forever," Usa states before she hears a chuckle from the other two occupants of the room before the door to the tea room opens up.

"I have a surprise for you!" An excited male's voice exclaims and she lowers her arm to see her father standing in the doorway with an excited look upon his face.

She lets out a groan before sitting up with an exasperated look upon her face. "And this is why I don't invite any friends over."

Her father rolls his eyes before he tosses her an envelope.

"Here smart ass. This is your early birthday present. There are four tickets in there for that comic convention you wanted to go to. I figured that with all the training that I've put you through that you could use the time off," he states with a smile on his face before Usagi gets up from the couch and gingerly makes her way over to her father then hugs him gently.

"Thanks pop. I really could use a vacation after all of the excitement that I've been put through," she states with a chuckle and goes back to sit on the couch in the similar position she was in before.

He smiles then nods his head towards Haruka and Michiru who give him a ghost of a wink just as he walks out of the room leaving the three girls to themselves once again.

"So, I noticed that Yomiko wrangled a dance out of you tonight," Haruka states; perching on the arm of the couch looking down at a sleepy looking, Usa.

Usa lets out a groan and places both hands over her eyes then shakes her head. "I don't even know why she wanted to dance with me to begin with when all she did was ask me about Hotaru and would talk about nothing else, but her. What is her malfunction anyway?"

Michiru and Haruka exchange looks before looking over at the young girl lying on the couch who continues to cover her face with her hands. Haruka shrugs her shoulders then lets out a chuckle.

"Well, maybe she's trying to make you jealous or something. Maybe she likes you and wants to judge how you react to her talking about your aunt," Haruka states while rolling her eyes at the eep that comes from Usagi.

"Kill me. Just kill me now! That's all I need is another crazed girl coming after me because she thinks that I'm the best thing since slice bread!" Usagi exclaims before shaking her head. "What the hell is wrong with these girls? Don't they have anyone else to go after and torture beyond all comparison?"

Haruka falls off the arm of the couch laughing her ass off while Michiru gives Usagi a sympathetic look when the girl groans and covers her face this time with a small pillow that was once resting behind her head.

'This is going to be a long week,' Michiru muses before closing her eyes and shakes her head when she hears a yelp come from Haruka.

* * *

><p>Rei had asked Minako to say over night after the party to which the blonde haired girl had complied with since she would be going to an empty house once again when she got home.<p>

After the party had ended the two girls had retired to Rei's room where they were currently sitting. Well, Minako was sitting while Rei paced around the room ranting and raving about a certain blonde haired boy that they both knew.

"He was dancing with his cousin, Mina. His cousin for Kami-sake! Who dances with their cousin to begin with?" Rei rants while waving her hands around in the air to enhance her point.

"Well, maybe he was being nice. Maybe his cousin didn't know anyone there and didn't want to dance with someone that was unknown to her," Minako supplies with a shrug of her shoulders while she watches Rei stop and stare at her as if she grew another head.

"Or maybe he's just a hentai freak that has incestuous relationships with his family!" Rei exclaims while placing her hands on her hips.

"Rei, I really don't think that's the case here. I think that you are reading way too much into this whole thing. I mean really. Taru's his Uncle and does he seem to be engaging in incestuous relationships to you?" Minako asks while rolling her eyes while Rei sputters for a good response to her question.

"Do you think that he's really that big of a jerk?"

Rei stops her pacing around then lets out a sigh while she thinks about the boy in question. There were instances where he seemed to be really nice and instances where he was a real big jerk.

"He can be a jerk... most of the time," she concludes with a shake of her head.

"Hmm... Rei are you sure that you aren't in love with Ren-san?" Minako questions while raising an eyebrow at her friend.

Rei's eyes bug out at the question and she glares at her lifelong friend with a mixed look of rage and well rage.

"W-what! Mina, are you sure that you aren't deaf or something? I just told you that the guy's a jerk, not to mention a pervert, a hentai freak," Rei rants while she paces around the room with her arms flailing.

"Yes, yes alright I get it. He's a Super pervert." Mina sweat drops when she remembers that term along with several others that Rei had used several times the describe Ren-san.

"Alright, alright, Kami-sama, calm down Rei. I was only joking, you know!" Mina soothed while getting up to place a hand onto Rei's shoulder not only to stop her from pacing around the room, but to help her calm down as well.

After a couple of minutes, Rei finally calms down enough for Minako to sit her down on a chair and she squats in front of her looking up into a stormy amethyst eyes.

"Besides Mina... you know I don't swing that way," Rei states while dropping her voice down to a whisper before looking around as if to make sure no one can hear her.

"Yeah I know, but maybe you-," she begins but Rei cuts her off before she can finish her sentence.

"No... I can't see myself ever trying to put myself on the line again, not after..." Rei trails off with a sad look in her eyes playing with a ring that's on her finger.

Mina frowns while looking at her friend, not really knowing what words of comfort she can offer to her friend. The silence ensued for a few more seconds while both girls contemplated what to say to one another.

"I think that I'm just tired. So maybe we should go on to bed." Rei states while faking a yawn to prove her point before she makes her way over to her bed while Minako sets up her futon for the night.

After they're settled into bed, Rei leans over and flips off the lights. The two girls lay in bed for a while, neither one of them able to go bed right away because of the thoughts that churn through their minds.

"Rei..." Minako starts, but pauses to see if Rei will respond to her.

"Yeah?" Rei asks while she lies in her bed with her arms behind her head.

"I'm always here for you okay,"Mina reminds the dark haired girl that lies above her in her bed.

"Thanks Mina," Rei answers with a smile at being reminded that no matter what they go through her best friend will be with her through it all.

"Love ya," Mina's tired voice comes up from the floor making Rei smile in the dark.

"Yeah me too," she answers before turning onto her side and allows sleep to overtake her exhausted body.

* * *

><p><em>To Be Continued…<em>


End file.
